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HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

BY
CHARLOTTE M. GIBBS, A.M.

WHITCOMB & BARROWS
BOSTON 1912

THOMAS TODD Co., PRINTERS
14 Beacon' Street, Boston^

rtOJ KOT30

PREFACE

BOOKS on the subject of textiles have usually been
written from the standpoint of the manufacturer or of
the textile chemist. It has been the purpose of the writer
to bring together in this book the general facts of most
interest to the consumer. Those points have been chosen
which will give a broader understanding of the textile
market and aid in the selection and use of textile fabrics.
Technical terms and manufacturing processes have been
given only in so far as they give a general understanding
of the conversion of fibers into cloth and throw light on
the possibilities of adulteration.

Information has been gathered from many sources,
from books, government reports, visits to factories, shops,
and museums. Suggestions and references for a more
extended study have been given.

The study of textiles is related to many other sub-
jects, which can merely be suggested in a work of this
size. The writer has endeavored to give that information
which the lay student may understand and which may
lead to a larger field of investigation.

A chapter on the Arts and Crafts movement has
been included to give a broader appreciation of the field
of textile art

It is hoped that the book may serve as a text in high
school courses in textiles and, with supplementary read-
ing, as an outline for college work.

iii

250787

IV PREFACE

The author wishes to express her appreciation to the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts for the photographs of
old textiles : to the curator of Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth,
Massachusetts, for photographs of implements used for
spinning and weaving: to the Lowell Textile School
for the picture of the Jacquard loom and the worsted
card ; and also to Mr. Fenwick Umpleby, of the Bradford
Durfee Textile School, Fall River, for reading certain
chapters in proof.

CHARLOTTE M. GIBBS.
• July, 1912.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEXTILE ARTS . i

II. SPINNING AND WEAVING 21

III. CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS ..... 38

IV. COTTON . 47

V. WOOL 65

VI. SILK 90

VII. LINEN • . . 109

VIII. BLEACHING AND DYEING 122

IX. ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING .... 143
X. HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS . . .163

XL DESIGN AND COLOR IN TEXTILE FABRICS . . 172
XII. LABOR CONDITIONS AND EFFORTS TO IMPROVE

THEM 190

XIII. THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT . . . 208
APPENDIX A. LABORATORY TESTS FOR TEXTILE

FIBERS 224

APPENDIX B. BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 229
INDEX . ...

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE
FRONTISPIECE, FLEMISH TAPESTRY .

1. EARLY EGYPTIAN LINEN 3

2. PERUVIAN FABRIC 5

3. NAVAJO BLANKET, LOOM, AND INDIAN BASKETS, 8

4. BASKETS, FANS, AND GOURDS, PACIFIC ISLANDS, 9

5. PRIMITIVE FABRICS FROM THE PACIFIC ISLANDS . 10

6. BOBBIN USED IN MAKING GOBELIN TAPESTRY . 16

7. (SEE FRONTISPIECE)

8. HOMESPUNS FROM BEREA COLLEGE ... 19

9. FLAX WHEEL .23

10. WOOL WHEEL, REEL ._.... . . . . 25

11. YARN WINDER 26

12. HAND LOOM OF COLONIAL DAYS . .. . . . 30

13. JACQUARD LOOM 35

14. WOOL AND 'COTTON FIBERS . . .. . . 41

15. LINEN FIBERS 41

16. RAMIE FIBERS 43

17. JUTE FIBERS 43

18. COTTON FIBERS 53

19. MERCERIZED COTTON FIBERS 62

20. GRADES OF WOOL 68

21. WORSTED CARDING 78

22. PROCESSES IN WOOLEN MANUFACTURE ... 79

23. PROCESSES IN WORSTED MANUFACTURE 81

24. RAW SILK FIBER, GUM ADHERING .... 94

25. SILK FIBER, GUM BOILED OFF .... 94

26. WILD SILK FIBER .... 95

Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

27. MULBERRY LEAF AND SILKWORM EGGS ... 97

28. SILK COCOONS AND SKEINS 103

29. ARTIFICIAL SILK 107

30. FLAX, RETTED, SCUTCHED, ETC 114

31. YARN WINDER, FLAX HATCHEL, QUILLING WHEEL, 1 17

32. BLOCK FOR PRINTING 138

33. COTTON PRINTS 141

34. IMITATION DOTTED Swiss 149

35. SHODDY .... ... 151

36. WORSTED SAMPLE ANALYZED 153

37. MOHAIR 154

38. SAMPLE OF SILK AND ASH FROM SAME . . . 157

39. JAPANESE SILK 174

40. PERSIAN BROCADE . 175

41. SCALE OF VALUES AND COLORS . . . .176

42. COLOR WHEEL 178

43. CONSUMERS' LEAGUE LABEL 202

44. SWEDISH AND ENGLISH LINENS . . . . 217

45. COTTON FIBER IN SCHWEITZER'S REAGENT . . 226

CHAPTER I

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE
TEXTILE ARTS

THE strict definition of textile is "a^fabric made_by._
weavingi^ijic "a material capable of being woven."
For convenience, in the study of cloth, we include under
the word " textile" not only the fibers capable of being-
woven, and woven cloth, but also other materials closely
resembling woven cloth, such as felt, bark cloth, knitted
and embroidered fabrics.

The modern textile industry is so enormous and its
processes so complicated that one cannot understand
its mechanism without long and careful study, and
observation of the actual working machinery. The foun-
dation principles, however, are the same as those of the
savage woman working in the forest with the crudest
implements, and the results differ only in degree of re-
finement. A slow but steady evolution may be traced
in this, one of the earliest industries known to mankind.
A much more intelligent appreciation of the modern
processes may be gained through a study of the ancient
industry and of the gradual development of implements
and processes up to modern times.

Likewise, there is a marked evolution in the art of
color and design displayed in woven fabrics, and the
highly developed sense of color and design is better
appreciated when the primitive love of crude color has

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

'been' studied. Main' in the forests of Asia expressed him-
self in his arts and strove to meet his needs through his
industries, just as man today expresses his love for color
and his appreciation of beauty through beautiful fabrics,
and manufactures cloth to protect his body and to make
his home more comfortable. Among primitive races
woman is the inventor, the pioneer in industries. Man
has replaced her in modern manufacture, but she dis-
covered the first principles. Modern science uses the
materials which the savage woman found to be best.
She learned from nature what materials and what forms
to use. The debt we owe to her cannot be overestimated,
for the hundreds of years of patient toil and invention
by these founders of our race laid a firm foundation for
modern progress.

Prehistoric Textiles. In attempting to learn some-
thing of the beginnings of weaving and spinning, we are
carried back to the earliest written records, and here we
find descriptions of an industry already well developed.
For the earliest beginnings we must search farther into
the dim past, where we have only dusty relics to instruct
us ; and even then we find that the birth of our industry
is lost in past ages. As man first began to emerge from a
state more animal than human, and felt a need for some-
thing more than the food and shelter provided by nature,
he doubtless began to devise implements, clothing, and
habitations of some sort; and while the skins of animals
and the bark and leaves of trees first supplied his needs,
slowly he developed the ability to make use of the reeds
and grasses about him, and then the wool, flax, and other
fibers that nature provided, and to combine these twigs

pEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS

and fibers into baskets, mats, and cloth. Whether the
earliest need was for shelter, for decoration, or to express
modesty, we know that decoration soon followed the early
textile industry, and through the ages this art and indus-
try have developed side by side. Though information be
scattered and evidences slight,
they are sufficient to throw
light thousands of years into
the past.

It has been the custom
among primitive peoples to
bury with their dead various
tools, weapons, and clothing
which they considered man
might need in whatever jour-
ney he was to take in the life
to follow. Thousands of
years later the graves of these
prehistoric men have been
opened, and the • tools which
they buried have come to
light, giving much informa-
tion concerning the occu-
pations of the times'. Among these tools are spindles,
shuttles, crude looms, combs, and other implements used
in spinning and weaving. In some localities, because of
peculiar conditions of climate or soil, not only have stone
and wooden implements been preserved, but pottery,
basketry, and even textile fabrics have been found.

In the tombs of ancient Egypt, where bodies were,
wrapped in cloth and then embalmed, we have examples

FIG. i. — EGYPTIAN LINEN

Sixth to Seventh Century A. D.

\ .

4 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

of textile fabrics four thousand years old. These are
mostly linen, rather coarse in weave, but decorated with
color in stripes and with crude representations of living
creatures. The Egyptians worshiped plants, animals, and
material things, and they portrayed these in their de-
signs. Some of the fabrics are embroidered, but more
commonly the designs are woven in. Figure I shows the
character of Egyptian design when more fully developed
in the early Christian era.

On the coast of Peru, where the dry saline sands are
excellent preservatives, there have recently been opened
graves containing relics of great interest. The Incas, a
powerful race of Peruvians, had carried the textile art
to a high degree of perfection in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, and they buried with their dead
many fabrics of linen, cotton, and wool, embroidered,
intricate in design, and ornamented with precious metals.
A valuable collection of Peruvian textiles is in the
Natural History Museum in New York, the most perfect
piece being a poncho of wool, very silky in its fineness.
Its surface is divided into squares, each filled with simple,
geometric designs of animal and plant form. This poncho
was buried in a stone box, and has come out apparently
as perfect in color and texture as it went in. Nets show-
ing different weaves and meshes, elaborate head dresses,
tassels, and ornaments of various sorts, as well as patch-
work in gorgeous colors, are among the collections in this
museum, and also in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

The looms used by the Peruvians were very simple,
as were those used by the Egyptians. Some of the former
have been found in the graves with partly finished cloth

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 5

in them, while the latter are pictured on the walls of
temple or tomb. The colors and the designs are quite
similar in Egyptian and Peruvian relics, although one
industry existed some hundreds of years B.C. and the
other about 1300 A.D.

FIG. 2. — PERUVIAN FABRIC

Figure 2 shows a remnant of a Peruvian fabric with
characteristic design and fringe.

In parts of Switzerland, during the Bronze Age,
men built their homes on piles driven into the bottoms
of lakes. When these houses decayed and fell into the
lake, or were partly destroyed by fire, tools and fabrics

6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

fell also, and gradually covered by a layer of peat have
been preserved there for thousands of years. Sometimes
several layers have been found, separated by layers of
mud, illustrating different periods of history. The mate-
rials found in these lakes are very fragmentary, but serve
to show that the lake dwellers knew how to spin and
weave and had crude implements to work with.

Associated Arts. Aside from these and other remains
of early textile art itself, we are able to learn much from
the associated arts of the same periods. We find decora-
tion on potteries, made by the imprint of the woven cloth
or basketry used for holding the vessel in shape, some-
times probably molded there merely for decoration.
Sometimes the decoration shows designs clearly devel-
oped for use in weaving, but not necessarily produced
in this way. The Mound Builders of this country furnish
us with examples of this sort. Basketry is an art prac-
ticed by many primitive peoples and is closely related to
cloth weaving, since the decorations and some of the
weaves are the same in both. Architecture, too, shows
the influence of textile art, some of the designs used in
decoration of stone showing clearly their textile origin.
Evidently the two arts developed side by side for ages,
the woven fabrics serving to embellish the architecture,
or making a real part of the structure, when used for
partitions and walls. Pictorial decoration on architecture
and on pottery, stones, and tools frequently portrays the
arts and industries of the times. Weaving, spinning, dye-
ing, and preparation of fibers are all shown in a manner
crude, but distinct nevertheless. We find such decoration
abundant in Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and other countries.

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 7

All of these sources furnish us with unquestionable
evidences of an art and an industry existing long before
written records were left. New evidences of this past life
are brought to light from time to time in many parts
of the globe, adding their proof that spinning and weav-
ing were commonly practiced among our prehistoric
ancestors.

Primitive Peoples of Today. Had we no history to
read and no relics to study, if we look about us today
we may see many examples of the early stages in devel-
opment of the textile art. Tribes of people still exist
whose civilization has not yet advanced to the age of
manufacture by complicated processes or by machinery.
The baskets, mats, and blankets woven by aboriginal
peoples are recognized as being among the most beauti-
ful produced. The workmanship of primitive peoples is
marvelous when handling reeds or rushes. Their colors
are natural colors and their forms are copied directly
from nature. The gourd, the nest, the spider, the reptile,
and other natural forms, furnish shapes and designs.
An art which thus keeps close to nature, knowing no
other art to copy, is sure to be beautiful. The primitive
woman is thoroughly acquainted with her materials and
understands their limitations. Add to this the beauty of
usefulness and the result is excellent. The food and
water baskets of the Pima Indian are graceful in line
and shape, and the designs, though simple and often
crude, are successful, while for durability the baskets are
unsurpassed. (See Figure 3.)

The Indian loom, while one of the simplest in con-
struction, produces, under the skillful touch of the Indian

8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

man or woman, a blanket or rug so closely and thickly
woven as often to be waterproof. Narrow looms are
used to weave wonderful belts, saddle girts, and small

FIG. 3. — NAVAJO BLANKET. SMALL BLANKET LOOM. APACHE
OLLA. PIMA FOOD BASKET

cloths, for there is no waste by cutting in the making
of the aborigines' costume. The design is carried in the
weaver's head, the yarns, carefully dyed beforehand, being
skillfully woven to produce intricate geometric figures.
There is a strength and honesty about the work which

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 9

give it a place among artistic productions. The blanket
shown in Figure 3 is gray, red, and white, very thick and
firm. The small loom, with partly woven blanket, is a
model of the larger blanket looms. The baskets are illus-
trations of wonderful skill. Both blanket and baskets
show the characteristic geometric designs produced in
accordance with the nature of the material.

The Islands of the Pacific Ocean furnish another
interesting source of primitive textiles. Figure 4 shows

FIG. 4. — BASKETS, FANS, AND GOURDS WITH CARRYING NETS

From Samoa and Hawaiian Islands

Samoan and Hawaiian baskets and fans, and food vessels
from the gourd and calabash wood, with carrying nets.
The simplicity of form and design is notable. Mats
woven by the South Sea Islanders from the Marshall
Islands (Figure 5) show some knowledge of numbers in
the counting necessary to carry out the design, and very
skillful manipulation of the material, which consists of
Pandanus leaves slit into strands and woven by the savage
without a loom. Tapa, or bark cloth from Hawaii and
Samoa, is produced in a curious manner from a species

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

of mulberry tree. The art of making this paper-like cloth
is now almost lost, but was formerly much practiced.
The bark of the shoots of these trees is carefully peeled

FIG. 5. — PRIMITIVE FABRICS FROM PACIFIC ISLANDS

A. Mat from Marshall Islands

B. Tapa Cloth from Hawaii

C. Tol from Gilbert Islands

D. Mallet used in beating Tapa

off, the outer bark scraped away and the under bark
beaten with a grooved mallet until it is very thin and
smooth. The surface of the finished cloth shows the
marks of the mallet, and is either dyed a solid color or
decorated with geometric designs, or with fern leaves

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS I I

or other plant forms, which are dipped in dye and then
laid on the surface of the fabric.

Whether we have passed through just the stage of
civilization in which we find the Eskimo, the American
Indian, and the South Sea Islander may be a matter of
some doubt, but probably our ancestors, thousands of
years ago, carried on their arts and industries in a some-
what similar manner, and the study of these primitive
peoples serves to give us the stages in the development
of the higher forms of industry. We must, however,
bear in mind that few peoples today are entirely un-
affected by modern civilization and the commercial spirit
which follows in its train. An example of this is the
Navajo Indian, an excellent type of primitive man, living
and working in his primitive way. His blankets have
been one of our best examples of a simple and beautiful
art, the art of a people untutored in the modern theories
of color and design, the product of the individual influ-
enced by generations of his ancestors, but not by any
foreign art. Unfortunately, the modern curiosity hunter
has brought the Navajo too much before the public eye;
his art has become commercialized, and the demand for
his wares has caused him to produce faster than he can
produce well. He has borrowed from the white man dyes
which he does not know how to use, and he works now
for the public rather than for himself. The consequence
is that it is difficult to find the true Navajo blanket,
the expression of the individual making the best product
he can. So it is with other peoples in other parts of the
world; and as civilization spreads, it will not be many
decades before the primitive man, uninfluenced by modern

12 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

times and conditions, will be a creature of the past, and
his art will be a bygone art.

Before turning to written history, let us sum up the
results of our search into the dim past.

At first, among the oldest remains, crude implements
for spinning and weaving have been found ; then potteries
with the imprint of woven material, either basketry or
coarse cloth, used in molding or for decoration; next,
scraps of cloth, coarse and irregular, but requiring in-
ventiveness and manual skill for its production ; and later,
woven cloths of greater beauty and fineness. All of these
furnish sufficient evidence to prove the existence of spin-
ning and weaving at a very early time, and the gradual
development of these arts.

Basketry and mat weaving, since the materials are
coarser, probably preceded the making of textile fabrics ;
but we find beautiful textiles among peoples who, so far
as we can ascertain, have not excelled in basketry, neither
was development simultaneous in all countries. In Egypt,
two thousand years ago, fabrics were made similar in
many respects to those produced by the Incas in Peru
in the thirteenth century A.D., while those of Peru are
far superior in fineness of weave, in design, and color
to the manufactures of the American Indian of today.
Links in the chain of evolution are often missing, but
the progress from the coarse, crude cloth found at the
bottom of the Swiss lakes to the finest Egyptian mummy
cloths must have been a steady one. Remnants of Egyp-
tian and Peruvian burial cloths are interesting as a step
in the development of the use of different fibers, but
much more so as showing the skill to which the races had

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 13

attained in the perfection of weaving, in the use of dyes,
and in the combination of colors.

Wall paintings also show that the dress of the ancient
Egyptian, though simple in construction, was elaborate
in color and design. Hangings of great elegance were
used in the houses of the wealthy, and the court of the
king was a gorgeous assemblage.

Historic Textiles. At the time when the most ancient
records were written, textiles were being woven in parts
of the Orient which in intricacy of design, richness
of material, and splendor of color have perhaps never
been surpassed. Silk, wool, cotton, and linen were all in
use. Quotations from the Bible, from the Greek writers,
Herodotus and Homer, and from the Roman Pliny show
that, four or five centuries before the time of Christ,
the countries of Arabia, Syria, Persia, and Palestine
excelled in weaving beautiful materials. Still more an-
cient records of India and China tell of wonderful fab-
rics made in these countries. Purple and gold was a
sign of royalty and nobility. The purple dye was labo-
riously obtained from a shell fish, first discovered on the
shores of Tyre. The gold beaten into very thin .plates
was then cut into strips which were either woverr flat or
wound about threads of some fiber.

"The joyful mother plies her learned hands
And works all o'er the trabea golden bands ;
Draws the thin strips to all their length of gold
To make the metal meaner threads enfold."

When woven separately or with silk, these produced
the most gorgeous fabrics.

These various products of the loom furnished one of

14 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the chief articles of commerce of the Phoenicians and
also of the extensive trade of the interior of the Orient.

Homer, about 900 B.C., tells of the elaborate embroid-
ery executed by Helen of Troy. The designs at this time
were not simple and conventional, but portrayed historic
events, the scenes of battle or legends. When Pericles
was beautifying Athens, men and women whose names
have long since perished were providing magnificent
fabrics to embellish the walls and floors of the wonderful
buildings. Gradually these arts spread into Western
Europe, where for a long time simple spinning and
weaving had been carried on. Of these early tapestries
and beautiful materials we have only written descriptions
or pictures, but these are vivid enough to give us a
conception of what they must have been. The Roman
conqueror brought to Rome silks, linens, woolens, cloth
of gold and silver, decorated with precious stones, and
tapestries, which, judging from the descriptions, must
have excelled anything we can imagine in luxury and
richness.

It is said that "the wife of the Emperor Honorius
died sometime about the year 400, and when her grave
was opened in 1544, the golden tissues in which her body
had been shrouded were taken out and melted, amount-
ing in weight to thirty-six pounds." *

In Rome, show and luxury caused many arts to " de-
cline. This was true also of the textile art, since decline
of taste is shown in extravagance of dress and house
furnishings as in other ways.

Gradually Italy began to produce her own fabrics.

/• /

1Rock. Textile Fabrics.

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 15

Spain received the art from the Moors, and in time all
Europe was making priceless tapestries. This European
tapestry showed the influence of Greece and Rome and
also of the Orient. Art was pressed into the service of
the church, and just as tapestries had previously por-
trayed wars, the stories of the gods, the powers of nature
and mythology, they now pictured the stories of the Bible.
Beautiful brocades, velvets, and silks of various kinds
were made in Sicily. Naples, Florence, and Venice were
all famous for their weavers. Heraldry provided designs
for silks, especially at the time of the Crusades. Lucca
and Genoa became famous for velvets and cloth of gold.
Guilds were formed to carry on the trades, and the silk
guilds and wool guilds of Italy were a prominent factor
in the cities for hundreds of years.

The Renaissance in the thirteenth century gave great
impetus to all ^art, and from then until the seventeenth
century there was marvelous development in tapestry
weaving. Tapestries as woven pictures are the highest
expression of the weaver's art, and require the skill of
both an artist and a trained workman. Tapestry weaving)
differs from ordinary weaving in that the warp or length- (
wise threads are stretched on a frame, then the weft or I
cross threads are woven in by hand, not in a "continuous
thread from side to'side, but each small part of the de- |
sign is woven in separately as a different' color is required]
Tapestry might be called embroidery on warp threads/
and because of the nature of the process any design may
be produced. The art of tapestry weaving was known to
the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, the Peruvians, and
other nations with a high state of civilization at an early

l6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

period. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, the
Flemish and French produced many beautiful tapestries.
Arras, a village in Northern France, became so famous
that the term Arras came to be used very generally for
all tapestries. In the first half of the seventeenth century,
the work in France was greatly aided by the active sup-
port of the throne. Louis XIV, through his minister
Colbert, reorganized the Gobelin workshop which had
existed in Paris since 1607, and made it, in 1662, an
establishment manufacturing for the crown alone. Since
the finances of the industry had been quite precarious,

FIG. 6. — BOBBIN USED IN MAKING GOBELIN TAPESTRY

this was a great step in making the Gobelin the perma-
nent establishment it has been since that time. A similar
royal factory was established at Beauvais in 1664. These
two factories during the seventeenth century product
some of the most wonderful examples of textile art
known in modern history. Those who wish to go more
fully into this chapter of textile history are referred to
the bibliography for books dealing with this subject. It
is significant to note that this art developed along with
architecture, sculpture, and painting.^ Like them it has
had its great periods and its declines, the greatest decline
being in the eighteenth century. Since then the heights
have not again been reached.

Reproduction in black and white gives little idea of
the real beauty of tapestry, but this specimen from the

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 1 7

Flemish (Figure 7, frontispiece) gives some suggestion
of the intricateness and the general character of some of
the greatest woven masterpieces.

Before leaving the textiles of the twelfth to the
eighteenth century, we must turn again to the Orient,
for there was and still is carried on in Persia, Turkey,
and other parts of Western Asia an industry which is,
in many ways, the wonder of all times. Oriental rugs,
which are so prized because of their marvelous construc-
tion, their wearing qualities, and their great beauty, are

products, not of a few great artists, but of hundreds
of humble Oriental workers, in their wild mountain
homes. The best of these rugs are not surpassed any-
where for beauty of color and design, while the silkiness
of the wool or the fineness of the silk used produces the
texture of finest velvet. Perhaps because the colors are
softened by age, the oldest rugs are among the finest ;
but many wonderful pieces, some of them modern, have
been brought into European and American markets of
late years. Efforts are continually being made to imitate
these rugs in modern manufacture, but the secrets of
dyeing and color combination, the individuality and excel-
lence of design learned through centuries of experience
in the Orient, are not to be duplicated in a day, and the
strength of hand-tied knots in each thread of the pile
of an Oriental rug is not to be found in the pile of a
machine-made carpet. Here again, for a more complete
study, there are books full of interest and charm.

Chinese and Japanese textile art has not changed as
rapidly as the European art. For centuries beautiful
silks and embroideries have been produced by these coun-

l8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

tries with a character quite distinctly their own. The
Oriental peoples have not become intermingled as have
the Occidental. They have had a religion which is retro-
gressive rather than progressive, and until the invasion
of Western civilization there was little change in customs,
art, or dress. These peoples have exercised a wonderful
manual skill in all their industries, but they have not
invented. India for hundreds of years has produced
muslins, the wonder of the world in fineness, but, except
when foreign influence has been exerted, her methods
are as crude as they were a thousand years ago.

Colonial Home Industries. The textile industry of
the later eighteenth and the early nineteenth century
which we shall study is very different from the weaving
of tapestry or of Oriental rugs. It is the simple home
industry which we find the world over. In America it is
the industry of the Colonists and of our great-grand-
mothers. In the early days of this country and well into
the nineteenth century the loom was a common posses-
sion of every home, and each housewife was her own
producer. The materials made were excellent woolens
and linens, not gorgeous or brilliant, to compare with the
tapestries or rugs of Europe and the Orient, but repre-
senting the honest efforts of a simple, home-loving people.
They are often beautiful fabrics, but beautiful because
of their firm and interesting texture, the simplicity of
design and color scheme, and the excellence of the mate-
rials. There was no thought of the value of time and
labor which went into these materials, the main object
being to produce something durable and at the same time
beautiful, if possible. That the results attained the end

DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE ARTS 19

sought is well shown by the homespun blankets, the blue
and white covers, the linen sheets that remain to this day
to tell their own story. The rush of modern times has
almost destroyed these home industries in the United
States, but they are still to be found in a few remote
parts of the country where civilization, in its advance,
has not stamped them out. Now, realizing that a certain

FIG. 8. — HOMESPUNS MADE BY KENTUCKY MOUNTAIN WOMEN

From Berea College

individuality and expression of skill found in the hand-
made is lacking in the machine-made, many who appre-
ciate the value of true homespun are making serious
effort to preserve what is left. Figure 8 shows some
of the productions of the mountain women of Kentucky,
who are being encouraged in their industry by the
workers of Berea College.

As this simple homespun industry contains the prin-

2O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

ciples of the modern factory system, and is its immediate
predecessor, as well as the art from which all more com-
plicated hand weaving developed, it will be worth while
to dwell on it more fully in a chapter on spinning and
weaving. At the present day, machine-made fabrics are,
of course, most important. Today it is impossible to
use hand-made materials for most purposes, but there
is a plea to be made for the industry, in that it offers a
field for the true expression of the individual, and there
is a combination of honest wearing quality, beauty, and a
certain distinction in the fabrics, not to be found in
machine-made materials. The machine-made is not to be
discarded, but neither should the hand-made be allowed
to disappear. It is finding renewed expression today in
the Arts and Crafts movement.

REFERENCES1

Guiffrey, Jules. Les Gobelins et Beauvais.

Holmes, W. H. Textile Art in Prehistoric Archaeology.

Holmes, W. H. Textile Art in Ancient Peru.

Muntz, Eugene. A Short History of Tapestry.

Rock, Daniel. Textile Fabrics.

Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1881-1882.

Navajo Weavers, p. '371.

Prehistoric Textile Fabrics, p. 397.

1 For publishers and dates see bibliography at the end of the
book.

CHAPTER II
SPINNING AND WEAVING

EVOLUTION of Spinning. Spinning is the process
whereby fibers are_combined in such a_manner that
they produce a continuous thread. The origin of spin-
ning is lost in past ages. Just when or how man first
conceived the idea is unknown. Marsden, in "Cotton
Spinning," says that it has been suggested that the
shepherd boy tending his flocks noticed the lock of wool
which had caught on a bramble, and twisting it found
that the fibers would hold together, and gradually evolved
a thread. By many writers, however, the origin of spin-
ning is attributed to woman, who must, besides preparing
food and utensils, provide some sort of shelter for her
child, and was therefore in primitive civilization more
inventive than man. Any theories concerning these be-
ginnings are, however, merely conjecture, but it is evident
that spinning is a very ancient art.

The simplest method of making a thread is to draw
out from a clump of wool or other material a small
amount of the fiber, twisting as it is drawn. The thread
thus formed is then wound on a stone or other convenient
object. It was found that if the thread was fastened to
the stone and the whole twirled, the thread could be
twisted faster, and one hand was left free to draw the
fiber out from the mass. Among ancient relics, sticks or
spindles, as they are called, sometimes of. bone, are found
with a slit or hook at the end, in which the thread was

22 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

caught. The spinner, holding her wool in one hand, drew
out a twist of fiber and fastened it to the hook in the
end of her spindle, which she then rubbed between her
palm and her hip, causing it to revolve rapidly. She then
dropped the spindle, and with her free hand regulated
the amount of fiber which it should draw out. Soon it
was discovered that a full spindle revolved better than
an empty one, so a disk of clay or wood, called a whorl,
was attached. This simple tool was used in all parts of
the world for many centuries.

The next step in invention was the use of another
simple device to hold the bunch of unspun fibers, a stick
called a distaff, which could be slipped into the bejt or
held under the arm, thus leaving both hands free to
manage the thread. Not for several hundred years was
the spinning wheel invented. This combined the spindle'
and the distaff in one machine which had a large wheel,
turned sometimes by a foot treadle, sometimes by hand ;
this wheel was connected by a string acting as a belt with
the spindle, which in this case was placed in a horizontal
position. In the end of the bench which holds the wheel
and spindle, and just above the latter, was the distaff,
on which the raw fiber was placed. The spinner, or
^"spinster," stood or sat before the wheel, and with skill-
ful fingers drew the fiber out in a fine thread. She turned
the large wheel, which in turn caused the spindle to re-
volve ; the thread was fastened to the end of the spindle
and given the desired twist. When sufficient had been
drawn out, the yarn was wound upon the spindle and
the operation repeated. With the large wool wheel the
spinner usually walked back and forth as the yarn was

drawn out, but with the flax wheel
she sat beside her work. In Colo-
nial days every household had its
wheel, and the daughters of the
family were early taught to spin.
After the long day of work in
house and field, when the family

FIG. 9. — FLAX WHEEL

24 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

gathered around the great hearth before the blazing logs,
the hum of the wheel made a pleasant accompaniment to
the talk of the elders.

The spinning wheel is supposed to have been intro-
duced into Europe about J^o, although a manuscript in
the British Museum dated in the fourteenth century con-
tains a rude picture of a woman spinning with a wheel.

In the early days in Europe and in this country, linen
and woolen were the fibers most used. Cotton is much
more difficult to spin by hand than are wool and linen ;
and although it was often combined with linen or wool,
its great usefulness in the Western world dates from a
later time. The Hindu, however, has used cotton for
hundreds of years, and still spins the' finest yarns with
a spindle, although a very crude wheel is used for coarse
work. He has never been excelled in the fineness of yarn
spun and woven. In England, one pound of cotton fiber
was spun into one hundred and sixty-seven miles of yarn,
but it was impossible to weave this. The Hindu not only
spins but weaves into cloth remarkably delicate yarns, so
that it is said cotton shawls have been made which might
be drawn through a finger ring.

To prepare wool for hand spinning, the mass of fibers
was untangled by cards, which were made of wires set
into wood or more often leather, and were employed
like brushes, the greatest success resulting when they
were slightly heated.

By the old method, the wool was often grown, sheared,
washed, carded, and spun by one household. By the
modern method, the long series of processes are carried
on by many different machines, and the mill that spins

SPINNING AND WEAVING

the yarn may be far removed from that which weaves it
into cloth, and the latter, again, other than the one which
bleaches and dyes it.

FIG. 10. — A. REEL. B. WOOL WHEEL

After the yarn was spun, it was wound into skeins
on the clock reel or on pegs put around the rim of the
large spinning wheel. Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, in her
"Home Life in Colonial Days," gives an attractive picture
of the spinning industry, with its poetry and its quaint
names for the implements used. The wheels, reels, and

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

swifts for making and winding the yarn are interesting,
and much pride was often taken in making swifts for
one's wife or sweetheart. Figures 9, 10, and n show
some of the types of winders.

Flax was more difficult to pre-
pare, since it must first be sepa-
rated from the woody fiber which
surrounded it by a process. of rot-
ting or retting in water, then
breaking and combing; these
processes will be described more
fully in Chapter VII, for the
principles are the same at the
present time.

A description of the prepara-
tion of cotton fibers by the Hindu,
whose old methods of manufac-
ture are still employed to a large
extent, may be interesting.

The cotton gin for separating
the seeds from the fiber consists
of two teak wood rollers, fluted
longitudinally, revolving nearly
in contact, much like the modern
clothes wringer. The cotton fiber is put in at one side
and drawn through by the revolving rollers, which leave
the seed behind. The next process, called bowing, con-
sists in cleaning the cotton by means of a long bow,
made elastic by a complication of strings. This bow
is laid on top of a pile of fiber, then struck with a
mallet, and the vibration jars the dirt out of the cotton

FIG. ii. — YARN WINDER

SPINNING AND WEAVING 2/

and also opens the knots. After bowing, the yarn is
spun without carding.

Evolution of Weaving. Weaving is the process of
interlacing two sets of parallel threads at right angles
to each other, to produce cloth. The art of weaving has
gone through an evolution similar to that of spinning.
Again, the first stages of the development are lost in the
past. The intertwining of the branches of trees may have
suggested weaving in more branches to form shelters, or
tree huts. The rushes from the river banks placed on the
floor of cave or hut may have become entangled and
suggested the weaving of mats; whatever their source,
slowly and surely the suggestions developed and grew in
the mind of man, until eventually woven cloth was the
result. Early man wove reeds together to make mats ;
later, perhaps, he conceived a basket. Few and simple
implements were required to supplement the skill of
human hands.

Pictures on the walls of ancient Egypt show a very
simple arrangement of threads stretched between two
bars. Two weavers worked at one loom, which was too
wide for one to reach across, and no shuttle was used.
The threads woven in were only as long as the width
of the loom, and thus a fringe was formed on each side.
The early Greek woman stretched her lengthwise threads
or warp between two bars, and stood before them inter-
weaving the weft of her beautiful .tapestry with infinite
care.

The Navajo Indian loom furnishes us with the sim-
plest type at the present time. It consists of two poles \
between which the warp is stretched, one .pole being

28 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

fastened to the limb of a tree or to the top of two
uprights set in the ground, while the other is fastened
to the ground. The weaver sits on the ground in front of
her loom, and, beginning at the bottom, works in her
different colored yarns with the assistance of a simple
shuttle. Alternate threads of the warp are fastened by
a cord to a rod which, when raised, makes an opening
for her filling thread. The rod is called the heald, the
opening the shed. The shed for the next filling thread
is opened by a stick which passes between alternate
threads of the warp; a heavy stick serves as a batten to
beat the filling threads together. As she progresses with
her blanket, the weaver rolls it up on the lower rod and
the top one is lowered. As is the case with most priJi-
tive weaving, the cloth is woven the size desired, and
there is no cutting. An illustration of a small Indian
loom is given on page 8.

Belts are woven by the Indians on a similar loom,
which, however, usually has one end attached to the waist
of the weaver; the warp also may be continuous, so 'that
the finished part is merely pushed away from the worker.

The Hindu loom is as rude a piece of apparatus as
is their spinning wheel. "It consists of two bamboo
rollers, one for the warp and the other for the web, and
a pair of heddles. The shuttle performs the double office
of shuttle and batten, and for this purpose is made like a
large netting needle, and of a length rather more than
the breadth of the web. Sometimes the shuttle is short
and must be thrown. This apparatus the weaver carries
to a tree, under which he digs a hole (which may be
called the treadle-hole) large enough to contain his legs

SPINNING AND WEAVING 29

and the lower tackle. He then stretches his work by
fastening his bamboo rollers at a proper distance from
each other by means of wooden piers. The heddle-jacks1
he fastens to some convenient branch of the tree over his
head ; two hooks underneath, in which he inserts his great
toes, serve instead of treadles ; and his long shuttle, which
also performs the office of lay,1 draws the weft through
the warp and afterwards strikes it home to the fell."2
"There is not so much as an expedient for rolling up the
warp; it is stretched out to the full length of the web,
which makes the house of the weaver insufficient to con-
tain him. He is therefore obliged to work continually
in the open air, and every return of inclement weather
interrupts him."3

Step by step, devices have been added to the loom ;
originally the threads were beaten into place by a stick
called the batten, then a rude comb was used. Finally,
the reed, a device much like the comb, but consisting of
a frame in which the parallel wires are set, took the place
of both the simpler devices. The reed was then placed
in a heavy frame, or lay, which might be swung back
and forth to beat the thread into place. The heddle re-
placed the heald rod, and consisted of a frame of wooden
rods with a hole in each, one thread going through the
hole, the next through the space between the bars. Alter-
nate threads could, by means of this implement, first be

1 NOTE. — Heddle and lay are explained in next paragraph.
Heddle-jacks are pulleys and ropes on which heddles are raised and
lowered.

- The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, etc. Published by
C. M. Sexton.

3 Mill. History of British India. Book II. Chapter 8.

3O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

raised above the others, making an opening, or shed, for
the shuttle to pass through ; then pushed below the others,

FIG. 12. — HAND LOOM OF COLONIAL DAYS

A. Warp Beam B. Cloth Beam C. Harness

making a different shed. Thus, with one device, plain
weaving could be accomplished. The modern harness
performs the same function, but two harnesses are used

SPINNING AND WEAVING 3!

> ,

to accomplish the work of the heald, each being raised
in turn. The harness consists of a frame in which wires
are strung, each wire having a loop in the center for
the thread to pass through. The warp threads are put
through two harnesses alternating, first one, then the
other; thus, when one harness is raised half the warp is
raised, with the other harness the other half of the warp.
By having more than two harnesses and varying the
threading of the warp, different weaves, as the twill
weaves, sateen weave, etc., can be made. The hand loom
used in Colonial times had become quite a complicated
affair.

The Industrial Revolution. For a long period no
great change came about in the machinery used for
manufacturing cloth. The loom of the early eighteenth
century did not differ greatly from that of the tenth cen-
tury, and the spinning wheel introduced in England
about the fifteenth century was still in use. A great
change was felt in many ways in the middle of the
eighteenth century. "It was a time of new men, new
methods, and new conditions. The whole social and in-
dustrial fabric was undergoing change, and it was in
connection with the cotton trade that the new life was
shaping itself with the strongest force."1 A series of
remarkable inventions for manufacturing cotton cloth
by machinery revolutionized the whole textile industry
as their use spread to wool, flax, and silk.

The patient, laborious methods of hand work were
to be replaced within a half century by wonderful
machines, run first by water power, then by steam. The

1 Burnley. Story of British Trade and Industry.

32 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

spirit of mechanical invention once thoroughly awakened
has never rested, and in the field of textile industries
some of its greatest works began.

It must be remembered that by the eighteenth century
the textile industries were very large, employing hundreds
of thousands of workers in England alone. These work-
ers were often banded together under a master for con-
venience and expediency. Spinning was a long, slow
process, and frequently the weaver had to remain idle
because of the lack of yarns. This difficulty was increased
when, in 1733, John Kay invented the fly shuttle, which
greatly simplified the placing of the filling threads, throw-
ing the shuttle across the loom by a mechanical device.
With this aid the weaver could weave twice as much cloth
as before. Since this device lessened the rate of wages
of the weavers, for some time they declined to adopt it.

About the same time John Wyatt worked out a spin-
ning machine which "spun the first thread of cotton ever
produced without the intervention of human fingers,"
but he never succeeded in perfecting his invention. In
1764, James Hargreaves, a poor weaver, inspired by an
overturned spinning wheel which he observed continued
to revolve, made a machine which spun eight threads at a.
time. This " spinning jenny," named for his wife, was
kept a secret for some time, until his neighbors, wonder-
ing how he could produce so much yarn, mobbed his
house and destroyed the machine. Later he received
£4,000 from the manufacturers of Lancashire for permis-
sion to use a machine of sixteen, spindles. This machine
was tJie cause of fierce contention between workingmen
and masters. In 1769, Richard Arkwright, a barber,

SPINNING AND WEAVING 33

working with the idea of Wyatt, perfected a spinning
frame in which the thread was drawn out by a series of
rollers, each pair revolving more rapidly than the one
before. The yarn was twisted by the revolving of a fly
attached to the spindle, and wound on bobbins. In Har-
greaves' jenny the yarn was drawn out by a carriage
which held the yarn to be spun and moved away from the
spindles, which twisted the yarn as they revolved. The
carriage then moved back and the yarn >was wound on
the spindles,

Samuel Crompton, another poor inventor, combined
the principles of Hargreaves' and Arkwright's machines
in the first spinning mule.

These inventions multiplied many fold the production
of the spinners, but as yet no improvement had been
made to the loom since the day of Kay's flying shuttle.

Dr. Edmund Cartwright, a country clergyman, after
long experiment produced in 1785 the first loom run by
other than hand power. Many improvements were made
to this loom before it was wholly efficient, but the idea
had been conceived. Thus within fifty years the whole
industry of spinning and weaving was given new life ;
and although it took many years to establish machinery
thoroughly, largely because of the opposition of the work-
ingmen, who thought they would be thrown out of work

• t

and could not foresee that the industry would only be
increased, yet the start had been made. Add to these in-
ventions the perfection of a steam engine by James Watt,
in 1769, which was gradually to replace water power in
the running of these new machines, the invention of the
saw gin for removing cotton seeds by Eli Whitney, in

34 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

1794, and we have the names of the six men who were
the chief promoters, in the textile industry, of the Indus-
trial Revolution. Although five of these six inventors
were Englishmen, it was not long before the inventions
were carried to other countries. Cotton, which up to this
time had held a very small place in the textile world
because of the difficulty of removing seeds and spinning
by hand, now jumped rapidly to the top, and with its
rise flax declined. The mob riots and destruction of
machinery gradually died out, although with the commer-
cial depression caused by wars in 1811—1812 a riotous
band of workmen called Luddites, in England, began
again the fight against the machine, but this lasted only
for a short time. In the United States the difficulty of
introducing machinery arose from a different cause. The
English, during the period before the War of Independ-
ence, were doing everything possible to destroy the home
industries of these colonies, consequently they forbade
the introduction of spinning machinery into the country.
It was not until after the Revolution that a spinning
machine was finally introduced by Samuel Slater, who
had become so thoroughly familiar with Arkwright's
machines in England that he was able to construct one
from memory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1790.
Laws still forbade the bringing of either models or draw-
ings from England. The power loom was not used in this
country until after the War of 1812.

Thus have the arts of spinning and weaving devel-
oped from a fireside industry to one of the greatest
manufacturing industries of our time. Household arts,
requiring considerable manual skill, they have developed

FIG. 13. — JACQUARD LOOM

36 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

into mechanical processes, in which the skilled intellect
has supplied the machines and the unskilled worker super-
intends their running. No longer does the blanket on our
beds express long hours of patient labor, the hum of the
spinning wheel accompanied by a song, or the thwack of
the loom in the corner of the living room. Now we sleep
under blankets which represent, it is true, hours of labor,
not the labor of a loving mother or sister, but of many
machines, watched by human beings almost machines
themselves, working in rooms where the hum of the spin-
ning is no longer musical, but its noise is so great as to
be deafening, and the thwack of a hundred looms deadens
all the finer sense of hearing. The progress of Western
civilization has demanded these things. The hurry and
rush of modern life have little place for the quiet house-
hold industry, our homes are no longer the factories of
the times ; and in many ways it is well.

The poetic side of home industries was only a small
part, unfortunately. In this country conditions had not
grown as bad as they were in England, where "the
domestic laborer's home, instead of being the poetic one,
was very far from the character poetry has given it.
Huddled together in his hut, not a cottage, the weaver's
family lived and worked, without conveniences, good air,
good food, and without much intelligence. Drunkenness
and theft made each home the scene of crime and want
and disorder. Superstition ruled and envy swayed the
workers. If the members of a family endowed with more
virtue and intelligence than the common herd tried to so
conduct themselves as to secure at least self-respect, they
were either abused or ostracized by their neighbors. The

SPINNING AND WEAVING 37

ignorance under the old system added to the squalor of
the homes under it, and what all these elements failed
to produce in making the hut an actual den was faithfully
performed, in too many instances, by the swine of the
family. The reports of the Poor Laws Commissioners
of England are truer exponents of conditions than poetry,
and show more faithfully the demoralizing agency of
pauperism and of all the other evils which were so prolific
under the hand system of work."1

When our linens wear out in a few washings and
our silks split after a few wearings, we sometimes . wish
for the good old homespuns, which wore for a hundrett
years. We wish for the honest, all wool materials, which
were not weakened in the washing or rotted in the dye
pot, and which showed in every thread the mark of the
individual who made them. As far as evenness of thread
and weave and beautiful finish can make it, modern cloth
is perfect in every respect, but that very perfection some-
times grows monotonous and we long for the irregular
threads of the homespun. Since there are still many parts
of this country where the art of hand weaving is^ not
lost, let us preserve it, not that its products may compete
in the commercial world with the factory woven, but that
we may still have an art which expresses a simple, honest,
and quiet life.

REFERENCES

Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days.
Mason, O. T. Origins of Inventions.
Mason, O. T. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture.
Marsden, R. Cotton Weaving.

1 Wright. Industrial Evolution of the United States, p. 346.

CHAPTER III
CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS

has been lavish in the supply of materials
that she has placed in the hands of man, from
which he may fashion shelter, clothing, implements, and
ornaments. We have seen how savage woman learned
the use of the reeds and twigs about her, and so perfected
their use that civilized man cannot surpass her skill.
Primitive woman developed the art of spinning and
weaving finer and finer materials, and that development
has gone on laboriously through the centuries.

Modern manufacturing industry uses only a small
number of fibers, those which have proved most suitable
for spinning and weaving, but the energy and skill of
designer and chemist have so altered the appearance and
quality of these few fibers when woven into cloth that it
sometimes requires considerable knowledge to recognize
them. As competition in industry becomes closer, and
the demand for novelty increases, methods of combining
different fibers and of covering defects with the finish
of the cloth are constantly improved; and if one 'is to
choose intelligently from the offerings of the market, it
is necessary to know something of the character of the
fibers and the methods used by the manufacturer.

Requirements of a Fiber. "In order to be service-
able in a textile fabric, a fiber must possess sufficient
length to be woven and a physical structure which

CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS 39

will permit of several fibers being spun together,
thereby yielding a continuous thread of considerable ten-
sile strength and pliability."1 These characteristics are
present in greatest degree in cotton, linen, wool, and silk,
and all these may be successfully bleached and dyed. The
following simple classification gives the fibers which may
be used, according to their origin, and aids in the study
of characteristics.

Vegetable Fibers. Cotton, linen, jute, hemp, ramie,
pineapple, aloe, and many other plant fibers used more
or less in different parts of the globe.

Animal Fibers. Silk, the wool of sheep, alpaca,
llama, camel, angora goat, and other hairs or wools of
animals used for weaving or felting into cloth.

Mineral and Artificial Fibers. This group is not
very important to the average student of textiles. Asbes-
tos is the common example, and is chiefly valuable for
its non-conducting and fireproof qualities. Although the
use of asbestos for spinning and weaving is limited it
may be mixed with cotton or linen and spun, the vege-
table fiber being removed later by burning, or it may be
spun alone.

Among the artificial fibers used might be mentioned
various metallic threads, but the most important fiber is
artificial silk. It is a derivative either of cellulose or
of gelatin, and is sometimes used, as the name implies,
as a substitute for silk.

^General Characteristics. Vegetable fibers are plant
cells. Their structure is simple and they are largely
made up of cellulose, with more or less foreign material,

1 Matthews. Textile Fibres, p. r.

4O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

such as plant waxes, resins, etc. They are various parts
of the plants, such as seed hairs, as cotton; stem fibers,
as flax, hemp, jute, and ramie; leaf fibers, as Manila
hemp and various species of aloe ; or finally, they may
be fruit fibers, as coir, or cocoanut fiber, which comes
from the covering of the cocoanut fruit.

The seed hairs are single-celled fuSers, almost pure
cellulose ; the bast fibers, or those coming from the stem
of the plants, are multicellular, and must be separated
from the woody material in which they are imbedded.

Animal fibers are nitrogenous substances, protein,
containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and, in
some cases, sulphur, phosphorus, and other mineral
matters. They are either appendages to the skin of
animals, as wool and the various hair fibers, or they are
animal secretions, as silk and the secretion of various
spiders, mollusks, etc.

The difference in structure of the individual fibers
and classes of fibers, and the difference in chemical re-
actions, makes necessary very different methods in the
treatment of these fibers in their manufacture into cloth.

In physical structure the fibers differ in length, diame-
ter, strength, elasticity, color, luster, and microscopic
characteristics.

Cotton is the shortest fiber, varying in length from
one-half inch to two and one-half inches. Wool varies
in length from one inch to seven or eight inches. Silk is
a long fiber, being continuous for perhaps four hundred
yards in the best cocoons, while linen usually is twelve
to thirty-six inches in length. The diameter of the differ-
ent fibers varies so that it is difficult to compare them ;

CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS

the finest, however, are found in silk and the coarsest in
wool and flax. Silk is the strongest fiber, cotton and
linen coming next in order. Silk and wool are most
elastic, linen being least so. In color, cotton may be pure
white or nearly yellow ; wool varies from white to gray,
brown and black being less common ; linen, according to
methods of treatment in separating the fiber from the
stalks, is found in different shades of tan, brown, and

FIG. 14. — WOOL AND COTTON
FIBERS

FIG. 15. — LINEN FIBERS

gray. Silk varies from almost pure white to quite a deep
yellow or tan. Again, silk has more luster than other
fibers, and linen has more than cotton or wool. The
luster of the different fibers may be increased by physical
or chemical treatment. These different qualities readily
show why silk is such a valuable fiber. Wool, because
of its hygroscopic and non-conductive qualities, is excel-
lent for clothing; cotton is cheap and to a certain extent
may replace the others ; while linen is valued chiefly for
wearing quality and texture.

Microscopic Characteristics. With the aid of the

42 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

microscope it is quite easy to distinguish one fiber from
another : cotton by the spiral twist which the flat, ribbon-
like fiber always has, wool by its scale-like surface, linen
by apparent joints and crosswise markings, and silk by
it5 structureless, transparent, lustrous surface.

Since a thorough understanding of the cloth made
from these fibers requires a careful study of their char-
acteristics, the method of manufacturing them into cloth,
the adulterations, etc., a detailed account will be given
of wool, cotton, linen, and silk. Brief mention may here
be made of some of the minor fibers which are, however,
found to quite a large extent on our markets.

Minor Fibers

Ramie. One of the most promising vegetable fibers
used for centuries in India and China is just coming
into use in this country. Ramie or China grass, from
the stem of a stingless nettle, is a lustrous, strong fiber,
and should hold a high place among vegetable fibers.
The development of the ramie industry has been retarded
in this country because of the difficulty of separating
the fiber from the woody portion of the stem. It is not
possible to destroy the gum which binds the fibers
together by as simple a process as the retting of flax,
that is, by allowing it to decay in water.

In India and China, where large quantities of the
fiber are manufactured into grass linens, the decortica-
tion is carried out by hand. A mechanical process has
been perfected in this country for effecting this separa-
tion, and ramie is now more commonly used. Up to the
present time, however, its use is largely for adulteration

CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS

of linen or silk, a fact to be deplored, since it has such
valuable characteristics of its own.

In strength, ramie stands among the first of vegetable
fibers ; in luster and fineness it approaches silk, and it is
very slightly affected by moisture.

Two to three crops of ramie may be produced in one
year, and the yield of fiber per acre is very large.

FIG. 16. — RAMIE FIBERS

FIG. 17. — JUTE FIBERS

Attempts are being made by the Department of Agricul-
ture to increase the production in this country, but up
to the present time it has been grown only in an experi-
mental way. Climate and soil seem to be favorable; the
difficulty apparently is to arouse interest in the culture
and manufacture of the fiber.

Jute is the bast fiber of a plant growing largely in
India and the East Indies. The stalk, which contains the
fiber, grows from five to ten feet in height. It is freed
from leaves, steeped in water to rot the stems, and the
woody tissue is removed. The fiber thus obtained is long,
yellowish in color, and has considerable luster. There are
several uses to which jute is put, but it is mostly used

44 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

for coarse bagging or for the back of carpets and rugs.
Although jute is strong, takes dyes readily, and may be
divided into very fine fibers, its use is limited because
of the fact that when wet it rapidly deteriorates. Because
of its cheapness it is frequently used to adulterate other
fibers, or is woven with cotton or linen to produce effec-
tive, inexpensive upholstery materials.

Hemp is another bast fiber, obtained in much the
same way as flax or jute. There are many varieties,
most of which are used (or twine, although fine Manila
hemp is used in the Philippines for clothing material.
Large amounts of Manila hemp, a leaf stalk fiber, are
imported into this country for the manufacture df rope.
This fiber is much more valuable than jute, as it with-
stands the action of water and is very strong. Other
varieties of hemp, although not as strong as Manila, are
also used for cordage.

Vegetable Silk. This name includes a number of
fibers, the downy coverings of seeds of plants or trees.
These fibers are not capable of being spun, but are used
for stuffing mattresses or cushions. Kapok, or silk-cot-
ton tree, and milkweed are the most common ; in France,
the latter has been spun with a large percentage of wool
to produce a very attractive cloth.

Pina, or pineapple cloth, is made from the fiber
obtained from the leaf of the pineapple plant. Woven
with silk it makes a beautiful fabric. In the Philippines,
where this material is used in large quantities for cloth-
ing, the natives separate it from the leaves by a laborious
process of scraping.

Coir, or cocoanut fiber, comes from the shell of the

CLASSIFICATION OF FIBERS 45

cocoanut. It is a stiff, harsh fiber, reddish brown in
color, and is used for rope and mats. The fiber is sepa-
rated from the rest of the shell by soaking in sea- water
for several months, when the fruit is rotted and may be
easily separated. The separation is sometimes effected
by steaming.

Many other vegetable fibers are used in different parts
of the world, but are not of great importance to us. We
are most interested in those which are used in the markets
of this country.

General Process of Manufacture

In manufacturing fibers into yarn and cloth there are
many processes to be gone through and many machines
to carry them out. Each year sees improvements • and
also new devices of the manufacturer to cheapen the
process, and new methods of adding to the product by
adulterations of one sort or another. It will be well to
study in some detail the manufacture of cloth and some
of the stages through which the fibers must pass. These
steps may, perhaps, be easier to understand if a general
explanation is given first.

All fibers as they are produced by nature are com-
bined with more or less foreign matter which must be
removed before the raw fiber is obtained. Cotton must
be separated from pod and seeds, wool from dirt and
grease, flax from the woody stalks, and silk from part
of the gum and the tangled fibers of the cocoon. With
the exception of silk, all fibers, when they have been freed
from this foreign material, are somewhat entangled and
must be straightened out, brushed or combed, until they

46 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

lie more or less parallel. In some cases the long fibers
must be separated from the short, making two or more
grades. A rope must be formed, which may be pulled out
finer and finer, then given the twist necessary to hold the
fibers together, and yarn is the result.

Frequently, before weaving, the yarn must be made
more compact or held together by the addition of a
starchy mixture, so that it will stand the strain of the
loom. Warping and drawing the thread in place in
the loom are processes preparatory to weaving, while
"finishing" prepares the woven cloth for the fastidious
public.

Bleaching, dyeing, or printing gives the desired color
to raw fiber, yarn, or cloth, as the case demands.

This, very briefly, is the course through the mill which
every fiber must travel. The variations from it are many,
and the actual processes are so complicated that only the
initiated may understand them thoroughly ; but the under-
lying principles are the same as they were when the
Colonial dames spun and wove by the side of the open
fire.

REFERENCES

Matthews, Joseph M. Textile flbres.
Dodge, C. R. Catalog of Useful Fibres.
Hannan, W, I. Textile Fibers of Commerce.

CHAPTER IV
COTTON

HISTORY. As has been stated, cotton is a vegetable
fiber coming from the seed pod of the cotton plant.
This plant is indigenous to many countries, and was used
in different parts of the world at the dawn of history. Its
use in India seems to extend farther back into the cen-
turies than in any other country, judging from the fact
that in writings of 800 B.C. a highly developed cotton
industry is mentioned. For hundreds of years India was
the center of this industry.

In Egypt we find mention of cotton grown about
325 B.C. From the writings of Nearchus, who descended
the Indus and navigated the coast of Persia, we learn
that cotton was raised in Persia, but it is likely this was
originally brought from India. One of the early articles
of trade in the Red and Mediterranean Seas was cotton
cloth. The introduction into Europe was, however, very
slow. Its manufacture was carried into Spain by the
Moors and gradually spread into Northern Europe. Even
in the fifteenth century it was not at all common in
Europe, as shown by the fact that cotton was supposed
by some to be the fleece of a sheep which grew on a plant,
and when hungry stooped over and ate grass from the
ground.

In America the cotton industry is much older than in
Europe. Columbus discovered cotton in the West Indies.

48 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Cortez found the Mexicans weaving clothes, also carpets,
tapestries, and many other articles, from cotton dyed with
vegetable dyes. Magellan found it in Brazil, showing it
to be indigenous to the American continent as well as to
India. The Peruvians, as we have seen, had a highly de-
veloped textile industry when conquered by Pizarro in
1527-1532, and cotton was one of their most used textiles.

The manufacture of cotton into cloth by hand proc-
esses is much more difficult than the manufacture of wool
and linen. Great manual skill is required, as well as the
proper atmosphere. These essentials the Hindu has pos-
sessed for ages, and generation after generation of cotton
spinning and weaving have produced a perfection which
no other nation has been able to reach. In fact, until the
invention of modern textile machinery, Europe could in
no way compete with India. During the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, before the introduction of power
machines for spinning and weaving, when the trade be-
tween England and India had become flourishing, India
cottons became very popular in England ; so alarmed
were the people lest these cottons should ruin the English
woolen and linen industries that laws were passed limit-
ing the use of cotton among the middle classes.

Distribution. We have seen that cotton is indige-
nous to many lands. It may be raised successfully
between the latitudes 30° North and 40° South. The
great cotton-producing countries between these limits are
the Southern United States, Egypt, India, Brazil, and
Peru. In other countries cotton is raised to some extent,
but not enough for exportation. The United States leads
in production with about three-fourths of the world's

COTTON 49

crop ; Egypt is second in amount exported, although
India raises more. Texas is the largest producing state
in America, while the other states along the Gulf coast,
as well as Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, con-
tribute their share.

The conditions which determine where cotton shall
be raised most successfully are climate and soil. The
season must be a long one, with rainfall during the first
part and sunshine during the latter part. For the. best
crop, the soil should be a light loam. A heavy soil pro-
duces too much foliage and not enough fiber, a sandy
soil does not hold enough water, but a light loam holds
heat and water and produces the best results. The near-
ness to sea and sea level also affect the quality of cotton,
the altitude and the presence of salt in the soil apparently
influencing the growth of the plant.

Varieties. Cotton belongs to the genus Gossypium
of the order Malvaceae. Many species are named by
botanists ; the four principal ones, however, are :

Gossypium hirsutum — most American cottons.

Gossypium Barbadense — Sea Island and Brown
Egyptian.

Gossypium Peruvianum — South American.

Gossypium Herbaceum — short staple — Asian.

These species are shrubs, growing to a height of from
three to six feet, having many branches, and bearing
alternate three-pointed leaves. The flower has five petals,
varying in color from white to yellowish pink. The fruit,
or so-called boll, has from three to five segments, and
when ripe bursts open, disclosing a mass of soft, white,
downy fibers, which are attached to the seeds. These

5O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

fibers, before ripening, are tubular cells pointed at one
end and attached to the seed at the other. As the seed
ripens, the pressure inside the pod causes the cell wall
to flatten, the walls become thicker, and with the flatten-
ing comes a spiral twist to the cell, due probably to the
withdrawal of the protoplasm and the manner in which
the material is deposited on the inside of the cell wall.

There are several classifications of cotton used by
buyers or growers. Perhaps the names most commonly
used are those suggesting the locality in which the cotton
is raised. Sea Island is long, fine, silky cotton, originally
raised only on the islands along the coast of South Caro-
lina and Georgia and on certain other sea islands, but
now raised largely in the states along the coast. This
cotton is the most valuable on the market, though certain
Egyptian cotton is a very close second. That which is
cultivated on the Sea Islands is finer than that grown
away from the coast. The largest crop in the United
States is the Upland cotton grown throughout the South.
Orleans cotton is very valuable.. Egyptian cotton is long,
has a good luster, and is fine. East Indian cotton is
coarser and shorter, has not such a good luster, but, as
a rule, is very strong. The causes for different varieties
of cotton seem to be climate, soil, fertilization, and care-
ful selection of seed, as well as cultivation and some
minor influences.

Cultivation. The time for planting cotton naturally
varies in different climates. In the United States, in
February, the fields are cleared of the last year's stalks,
and the ground is plowed and prepared for rows about
four feet apart. The seeds are planted between March i

COTTON 51

and June 10, although rarely as late as June, and the
plant comes up in about fifteen days. Thirty-five to forty-
five days later the first buds appear, and after sixty-five
days more the crop is ready to pick. Thus, four months
is about the shortest duration of time between the plant-
ing and the ripening of the seeds.

Cultivation of the crop is required when the plants
are young, and as considerable loss is suffered from
various pests and diseases, a great deal of attention has
been given in the last few years to methods of fighting
these destroyers. The cotton worm and other insects,
fungi, and diseases cause much loss every year, but the
cotton-boll weevil is probably the most serious pest.

Importance of Industry. The importance of the
cotton crop to this country has been very great, and its
importance to our Southern states can hardly be esti-
mated. Cotton is the largest textile industry, and as a
world industry ranks very high. The importance to other
countries of the cotton crop of the United States is shown
by the fact that during our Civil War it was only by the
greatest effort that a terrible famine was prevented among
the cotton-mill hands in parts of England. At the present
time, England and other European countries are encour-
aging in every possible way cotton production in their
own colonies which lie within the cotton belt, in order
that they may not be so dependent on the crop of the
United States.

Physical and Chemical Structure and Character-
istics. We have said that the physical structure of a
fiber determines whether or not it may be used in textile
manufacture. The peculiar structure of cotton which

52 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

makes it suitable for spinning is the twist which the fiber
takes on ripening. Cotton fibers are short in comparison
with others used for manufacture, being three-fourths
of an inch to two inches in length, the greater number
varying from one to one and one-half inches. Were it
not for the characteristic spiral twist which helps hold
the fibers together, it would be extremely difficult to
spin. Under the microscope the cotton fiber appears
like a twisted ribbon, with the edges thicker than the
central part. Cross sections show an irregular form,
somewhat oval, with thick walls and an opening in the
center. Different fibers vary as to the number of twists.
There are sometimes present unripe fibers, showing no
internal structure and no spiral twist, while different
varieties of ripe fibers also vary in amount of twist. The
size of the cotton fiber also varies greatly. Sea Island
is the finest fiber, while the coarsest cottons sometimes
reach a diameter six or seven times greater. In tensile
strength cotton stands between silk and wool, and in
elasticity it is below either, although more elastic than
linen.

The most common color of the cotton fiber is a
creamy white, but it is sometimes golden or quite yellow,
as Nankin cotton. The luster of the fibers varies in
different kinds of cotton, and is most marked in the long,
silky Sea Island.

The hygroscopic quality of a fiber is its ability to
absorb water. Cloth may absorb moisture in two ways.
It may merely take the moisture up in the spaces between
the threads of the cloth, giving it a damp feeling, or the
fiber may absorb the moisture into itself. It is this second

COTTON 53

quality which we call the hygroscopic quality. Ordinarily,
cotton holds from five to eight per cent of this hygro-
scopic moisture, although it may, in a moist atmosphere,
hold much more. The spinning of cotton is greatly
affected by the amount of moisture present, therefore
artificial humidity is usually maintained in the spinning
room. Cotton which has been freed from the vegetable
wax adhering to it is much more hygroscopic, and is
known as absorbent cotton. Cotton withstands heat

FIG. 1 8. — COTTON FIBERS

better than animal fibers. At 250° C. it begins to turn
brown. It burns freely in the air, with a luminous
flame.

Certain chemical actions distinguish vegetable from
animal fibers. Cotton is largely cellulose. The surface
of the fiber is protected by a layer of vegetable wax and
oil, and there is a small amount of coloring matter. The
natural impurities are very small, being from four to five
per cent, and consisting of small particles of seed, leaves,
and dust. In its chemical behavior the reactions of cotton
are those of cellulose. Mineral acids destroy the fiber ;

54 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

very concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves it, while weaker
acids disintegrate it, so that the fiber may be reduced to
dust when dried. Dilute acids do not affect the cotton
while wet. Concentrated caustic alkalies bring about a
change in cellulose known as mercerization. This will
be referred to again. Dilute solutions of alkalies have no
injurious effect on cotton unless exposed to the air, when
they weaken it.

These reactions are important in the bleaching and
•dyeing of cotton as well as in some household processes.
A stain may be removed from cotton 'cloth with a dilute
acid and the cloth be unharmed. If, however, that acid
is left on the cloth until it dries thoroughly and becomes
more concentrated, it may destroy the fiber. If a hot iron
is put on the cloth before the acid is thoroughly removed,
a hole will doubtless be the result. Cleaning powders
containing free alkali must be thoroughly removed or
they weaken the fiber. Cotton does not take dyestuffs
readily. In most cases an assistant is required.

Preparation for Market. When the seed pod has
burst open, disclosing its treasure of snowy fibers, the
time for hard and rapid work has begun. The problem
of picking is sometimes a serious one. The crop must be
gathered before rain or frost has had a chance to injure
or destroy it, and there must be many laborers for the
picking. Recently a machine which promises better than
those previously tried has been invented for picking
cotton and may revolutionize this part of the industry.
.When the crop has been gathered, before being shipped
the seeds must be removed. This process of separating
the fiber from the seeds is known as ginning. Until 1794

COTTON 55

this was done by hand; then Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin, a machine which separates the fibers from
the seeds by saws projecting through wire grating into
a hopper. The cotton is put into the hopper, the fibers
are caught by the revolving saw ; but the seeds, being too
large to go through the grating, are left behind. This
gin is used for American cottons, except the long Sea
Island fiber. This is ginned by the roller process, which
consists merely in passing the fibers between rollers which
do not allow the seeds to pass. The latter method has
been employed in a rude way in India for many years.

By the hand process, five pounds of cotton could be
picked from the seed by one person in a week. By the
saw gin, five hundred pounds may be seeded in an hour,
but this is too rapid for the best interests of the fiber.
The cotton seeds are a valuable part of the cotton crop,
although for a long time they were a waste product.
Cotton-seed oil, used for cooking purposes, is obtained
by pressing the seeds ; cotton-seed meal, after the oil has
been removed, furnishes cattle and poultry food ; and the
hulls are used as a fertilizer.

When the seeds have been removed, the cotton fiber
is put into bales, varying in weight, but usually, in this
country, of about five hundred pounds. These bales are
compressed by a hydraulic press until they are very com-
pact, are wrapped in burlap, bound with iron hoops, and
then sent to market. A great deal of criticism has been
made of the American cotton bale, because it often bursts
open in transportation and because of the bulkiness. The
cotton becomes dirty and absorbs a large amount of
moisture if the conditions are right, and it is difficult

56 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

to transport. An effort is now being made to improve
the bales.

Manufacture. The manufacture of cotton differs in
its details in different countries. In England, spinning,
weaving, finishing, dyeing, weaving of fine goods, of
coarse goods, prints, or ginghams are carried on by differ-
ent firms. In this country there is much more centraliza-
tion, one mill often carrying through all the processes
from the raw fiber to the finished cloth and producing a
variety of kinds of cloth. The processes necessary to per-
form the carding, spinning, and weaving of cotton into
cloth by machinery are varied, and the machines for
carrying them out are complicated. In order that they
may be more easily understood, they may be grouped
under six heads :

Opening and cleaning.

Preparation for carding and spinning.

Carding and spinning.

Preparation for weaving.

Weaving.

Finishing.

Opening and Cleaning. When the cotton reaches the
factory it is much tangled, having been compressed for
some time in the bales. It also contains a considerable
amount of impurity — pieces of seeds, leaves, and sticks,
as well as dust and dirt, collected on the way to the fac-
tory. The first thing necessary is to open the bales and
pull this cotton apart. The tangled mass is thrown into
a large hopper, where an apron covered with hooks pulls
it apart. It is sent by compressed air to another machine,
where the process is continued and a blast of air blows

COTTON 57

out the loose particles of leaves, dust, etc. From this,
the scutching machine, the cotton comes out in a thick
carpet-like lap, which must be of uniform thickness.

Preparation for Carding and Spinning. The fiber
for medium and medium fine yarns is carded. When cot-
ton yarn was manufactured by hand, this carding con-
sisted of brushing the cotton on brushes made of wire
bristles mounted on leather, until the fibers were smooth
and parallel. The same result is now accomplished by
machinery, large cylinders covered with short bristles re-
volving in contact with small cylinders likewise covered
with bristles. The fiber comes out from this treatment in
a very thin sheet, somewhat irregular, but with the fibers
in a more or less parallel position. This lap is condensed
into a soft rope or sliver by passing through a funnel.
To make the slivers even and the fibers more parallel,
several processes of drawing follow. The slivers are
doubled several times and then drawn out ; each time the
process is repeated the sliver is drawn out finer, until at
last the ropes are even and small enough for the final
process of spinning. The strands from different stages
in drawing are known as sliver, stubbing, intermediate,
and roving.

Spinning. The final spinning into yarn consists of
drawing out the roving strand finer and giving it a twist.
Two-ply yarn is made by twisting together two yarns,
three-ply, three yarns, etc. The air in spinning rooms
should be moist and heated to 70° to 90° F. Cotton
may be spun on a frame or on a mule, which differ as
follows :

In the ring and fly frames, series of rollers, each set

58 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

revolving faster than the one before, draw out the cotton
strand. The twist is then given by a "flier," or a ring
which revolves around the bobbin and also feeds the
thread to the bobbin. The mule is much more compli-
cated. The spools of roving to be spun and the drawing
rollers are on an immovable part of the machine, while
the spindles are on a carriage. The carriage moves away
from the main machine as the thread is drawn out and
twisted, then moves back as the thread is wound on the
bobbins.

The mule produces a yarn of greater elasticity, more
uniform twist, and is used for best grades of fine yarn,
although the frames are partially replacing the mule
because they are cheaper to operate. The mule requires
more space and more skilled labor to operate it. The yarn
from the spinning machines is wound on cops and is
ready to be sent to the dyer or to the weaver. Some kinds
of goods, as ginghams, have the yarn bleached and dyed
before weaving, others not until after weaving. Fancy
yarns are made by combinations of different colored yarns,
by irregular twisting, and by various other methods.

Preparation for Weaving. In order that warp yarns
may hold together well, be more compact, and not rub
fuzzy in weaving, they are sized. This sizing is the
immersion of the yarns in a solution of gums, starches,
etc. Light sizing, ten to twenty-five per cent of the
weight of the yarn, is put on warps which are to be
bleached and dyed afterwards. Medium sizing, twenty-
five to fifty per cent, is put on to the warp of light cloth
which is to be sent out in an unfinished state. Heavy
sizing, fifty to one hundred per cent, is used on the warp

COTTON 59

of coarse fabrics, as linings and paddings ; while extra
heavy, one hundred per cent or more, is rarely used. The
materials used in sizing may be classed under four heads.

Adhesive bodies are flour, starch, farina, sago, and
dextrine. These also are weighting bodies.

Softening bodies are palm oil, castor oil, cocoa oil,
olive oil, soaps, etc.

Weighting bodies are china clay, magnesium or zinc
chloride, and the adhesive bodies given above.

Antiseptics, zinc chloride, both prevents mildew and
is a weighting body.

Not all of these materials are used in one sizing
mixture, but all four classes may be found in a size
which is to be left on the cloth. If the softening body
is omitted in a heavy size, the yarn is too harsh for weav-
ing; if the magnesium chloride is omitted, the fiber is
too dry, as this is a deliquescent salt and is necessary.
If the zinc chloride is left out, the fabric may mildew or
decay entirely.

Warping is the series of processes by which the warp
is put into the warp beam which goes into the loom. It
consists in rewinding threads from the cops. If the mate-
rial is to be striped, the threads must be put onto the
warp beam in stripes in the order they are to appear in
the cloth. Drawing in is the process of threading the
warp through the harnesses and the reed of the loom.
Up to the present time, drawing in is done almost entirely
by hand, although a machine has been invented which
ties a new warp onto an old one before the old one is
drawn out of the loom, thus pulling the new in as the
old is drawn out. There is also now a machine to draw

6O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the threads through the harnesses, by which the work
may be done in one-third the time required by hand.

Weaving. The designing and setting up a warp for
a figured design is the largest part of the work, for, once
the loom is ready, the shuttles fly back and forth, chang-
ing from one color to another automatically. The reed
beats up the cloth, and if a warp thread breaks a ring
drops and stops the machinery. The weaver in a modern
factory tends from six to ten looms, and only needs
watch them to see that they are running properly and to
tie a thread when it breaks.

There are dozens of effects produced by weave, but
all combinations may be traced to three simple foundation
weaves. In the plain weave, there is a regular interlac-
ing of warp and weft as in darning. In the twill weave,
the weft may go under two warp threads, then over two,
and so on, the next weft taking up different threads, so
that the effect produced will be a diagonal stripe. In the
sateen weave, the threads are so arranged that only one
series, either warp or weft, appears on the surface, the
other series being entirely concealed.

The rib weave is a modification of the plain weave,
in which a heavy stripe is produced by combining two or
more warp threads. The basket weave is produced by
weaving both warp and filling with two threads together.

Finishing. When cotton cloth comes from the loom,
with the exception of coarse* unbleached muslins, it is
by no means ready for the market. If the yarn has been
bleached and dyed before weaving, then the cloth must
be inspected, mended if necessary, knots cut off, and the
fuzzy ends singed off from the surface by passing rapidly

COTTON 6 1

through a gas flame. It must then be soaped and washed,
starched, and finished by heavy pressing in a mangle or
by a calender. The calender is a heavy pressing machine
used to give smoothness and luster. A variety of finishes
may be produced by the calender, the construction of the
rolls through which the cloth passes, the pressure, the
friction, the temperature, and the starch, all having their
part in determining the finish. Winding and measuring
finally prepare the cloth for market.

Cotton which goes to the market in the "brown"
state goes through but one process of finishing, namely,
brushing. The brushing machine is a combination of
emery rolls, card rolls, and beaters, which remove the
motes, knots, nubs, lint, dirt, etc., from the cloth.

If the yarn has not been bleached and dyed before
weaving, this is done before starching and pressing the
finished cloth.

Printing is the process of stamping a design on the
surface of the cloth, or on the warp, before weaving.
The processes of bleaching, dyeing, and printing will be
described in a separate chapter. Printing is used for the
production of calicoes, percales, dimities, organdies, and
many other figured cotton cloths. Dyeing in the yarn
is used for ginghams, and dyeing in the piece may be
used forv materials which are a solid color in the finished
state.

This is but a brief sketch of the processes in the
manufacture of a plain piece of cotton cloth. Corduroys,
crepes, flannelettes, and dozens of other kinds of material
are much more complicated in weave and finish. Further
particulars may be had by consulting reference books, if

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

it is not possible to visit mills, where the process may
be much more easily understood.

It will readily be seen that because of the cheapness
of the cotton fiber it will not be adulterated with woolen,
silk, or linen; jute and hemp, while cheap, are not suit-
able for such adulteration. The points which the buyer
must consider are the adulteration with starch, the finish
which may wash ofif, and the color, design, and quality
of the material.

FIG. 19. — MERCERIZED COTTON FIBERS

Mercerized Cotton is a comparatively recent product
put upon the market. In 1844, John Mercer discovered
that by treating the cotton fiber first with alkali, then
tension and rinsing with water, the fiber swelled,
straightened out, and gained much in luster: it also
gained something in strength and m its power to absorb
dyes. It is only within the last fifteen years or so that
this process has been used commercially, but the manu-
facture of mercerized cotton is now a very important
part of the cotton industry.

Caustic soda is the alkali used, and the process

COTTON f)3

should be carried on away from the air, either at room
temperature or artificially cooled. The tension may be
applied during the treatment with alkali or later, but
must be applied when the cotton is rinsed, otherwise the
fiber shrinks and becomes transversely wrinkled. The
physical change is merely straightening the twist of the
cotton and swelling the fiber so that it becomes very
smooth and reflects light, thus giving it luster. Th~
chemical change is first from cellulose to alkali cellulose,
then to cellulose hydrate. The mercerization is lasting,
and is not removed by washing. An artificial luster
may be obtained by heavy calendering, but this is not
lasting. Mercerization may be accomplished in the yarn
or in the woven cloth. It is probably more complete
when done in the yarn, because of more even tension.

Mercerized cotton should command a higher price
than ordinary cotton because it has an increased value
and is more expensive to produce ; therefore one should
be sure that cotton is really mercerized and not merely
calendered to give it the appearance of mercerized cotton.
The use of mercerizing has broadened the field of use-
fulness of cotton and added new materials of increased
beauty and serviceability to the many varieties of cotton
cloth already on the market.

REFERENCES
Barker, A. F. Textiles.
Batchelder, S. Cotton Manufacture.
Bowman, Fred H. Structure of the Cotton Fiber.
Brooks, C. P. Cotton.
Chapman, S. J. The Cotton Industry and Trade.

64 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Cotton Plant, The. Bulletin 33, Department of Agri-
culture. Office of Experiment Stations, Washington,
District of Columbia.

Dana, W. Cotton from Seed to Loom.

Marsden, R. Cotton Spinning.

•Marsden, R. Cotton Weaving.

Matthews, J. M. Textile Fibres.

Posselt, E. A. Wool, Cotton, Silk, from Fibre to Fin-
ished Fabric.

Thompson, Holland. From the Cotton Field to the Cot-
ton Mill.

Wilkinson, F. Story of the Cotton Plant.

•'

CHAPTER: v

WOOL

ORIGIN. The most important fiber of animal origin
is the wool of the domestic sheep. There are many
animals whose hairy coverings are used for textile fab-
rics> but the sheep furnishes the most typical wool fiber.
The alpaca, vicuna, llama, camel, angora goat, are some
of the other animals which produce valuable fibers. To
these may be added the rabbit, beaver, and other fur-
bearing animals.

History. The use of wool for spinning and weaving
reaches far back into prehistoric times. Just when or
how man discovered the possibility of spinning we do
not know. The bones of the sheep are often found with
the bones of prehistoric man, showing that it was early
a domestic animal ; and it seems probable that because of
its easy adaptability to spinning, wool was the first fiber
so used. Also, because man doubtless used the skins of
animals for clothing, the matting of the fibers on the pelt
might well have suggested the use of the fibers without
the skin. Certain authorities, however, hold that wool
spinning began with the Egyptians, and that they first
spun flax; therefore, when they began to spin wool af-
ter the manner of flax they produced the smooth, even
thread later known as worsted, rather than the fuzzy
thread of woolen. The Egyptians perhaps used flax
first, but this would not seem to prove that all races did ;

66 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

nor can it be proved that the Egyptians were the first
people to spin wool, although as far as can be discov-
ered the textile arts reached in Egypt the highest devel-
opment at so early a period.

Sheep belong to the order Ruminantia, class Ovidae,
and there are many varieties. Cultivation has improved
the character of the fiber, which is of two kinds : true
wool, which is soft and curly; and hair, usually longer
and stiff. The distinction between wool and hair and
the different kinds of wool will be discussed more ftilly
later.

Sheep are indigenous to almost all parts of the world,
and the spinning of woolen yarn has been carried on by
primitive people in a great many different countries. In
history we find mention of the woolen industry from
earliest Bible times. "The oldest authentic references
available to us in regard to spinning and weaving are
those in the Book of Job and in the Book of Exodus,
which date from about 1600 years B.C." 1

Pure white wool formed part of the commerce of
Tyre, where it was dyed purple. White wool formed
the tunic and the toga, as well as other garments, of the
Roman, and many of the beautiful tapestries of the
Middle Ages were of woolen yarn. The growth of the
industry was gradual throughout the world up to the
time of the Industrial Revolution, in the last half of the
eighteenth century. The history of the development of
the woolen industry and trade and of the machines in-
vented for handling it is a long one, and has been writ-
ten many times.

1 Priestman. Principles of Woolen Spinning, p. 2.

WOOL 67

Distribution of the Industry. At the present time
wool is raised in almost every country in the .world, al-
though grown only in small amounts in some countries.
Australia, Argentina, and the United States lead in wool
production, while Russia, New Zealand, the United King-
dom, the Ottoman Empire,1 and other countries follow.
Although it is possible to raise wool in most climates or
on almost any soil, the quality of the fleece is affected
by these conditions, and better wool is produced in some
regions than in others.

Varieties. As has already been said, there are many
kinds of wool, differing according to breed, climate, food,
care, soil, and the health of the animal. Differences in
some of these factors produce great differences in the
same breed of sheep, or other differences produce great
variation under the same climatic conditions. For cen-
turies the Spanish Merino produced the finest wool, and
so jealous were the Spanish people of their supremacy
in wool that a law prohibited the exportation of Merino
sheep from the country. In 1550 some sheep were taken
to Peru and thence to the Argentine Republic, but they
deteriorated; between 1760 and 1840 Merino sheep were
carried to the other countries of Europe.

Australia has proved one of the best countries for
the production of a fine, crimpy wool. There the Span-
ish Merino has been crossed with English breeds. By
careful selection and cultivation great changes may be
made in the character of the wool. The wild sheep in
mountainous regions usually have a great deal of coarse

1 According to Report of the United States Tariff Board, based
on 1909 statistics.

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

hair mixed with the wool, while the most improved vari-
eties on pasture land have practically no hair. The
amount of imperfectly developed wool is also greater in
uncultivated sheep.

Marked difference is found in the qualities of wool
from the same fleece. The fiber from about the hind
legs and tail is coarse, strong, and frequently dirty ; the

FIG. 20. — GRADES OF WOOL

A. Best quality wool B. Second quality C. Poorest wool

neck has short wool, but fine, and there is apt to be
poorly developed wool here; on the lower part of the
neck, in front of the legs, the wool is worn ; and low
down, near the legs, it is especially bad, since it is usu-
ally mixed with hair. The shoulders and sides furnish
the best grade of wool, while that of the back is some-
what inferior. (See Figure 20.) There is greater vari-
ation on some sheep than on others, and the best qual-

WOOL 69

ity of one breed may be much better than the best
quality of another breed.

Cultivation. The cultivation of sheep for wool con-
sists in keeping the animal in the most healthy condition
possible, in careful breeding, and in shelter from the
worst rainstorms. Care must be exercised to protect
the sheep from parasites, or they must be dipped with
preparations which destroy the parasite. The sheep must
also be kept as free as possible from burrs and other
vegetable matter, which decrease the value of the wool.

Importance of the Industry. Among textile indus-
tries, wool is second only to cotton in importance. Be-
fore the Industrial Revolution wool was most important,
but the ease of preparation of cotton by machinery and
the cheapness of production have placed it in the front
rank. In the United States wool manufacture, as well
as wool culture, is an important industry, but a large
amount of raw material, cloth and yarns, is annually
imported. The manufacture is largely concentrated in
the New England and Middle Atlantic states, especially
in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Eastern Pennsyl-
vania, although there are many mills in other parts of
the country.

Chemical Structure and Properties. Turning to the
study of the individual fiber, we find that it has very
important physical and chemical properties, which play
a large part in determining how it is to be treated in
manufacture.

Chemically wool is a protein substance, composed of
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen, and phos-
phorus. Nitrogen may be detected by charring wool

7O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

with caustic potash, when an odor of ammonia is given
off. When distilled by itself, hydrogen sulphide may be
detected in the fumes.

In raw wool there is a large percentage of for-
eign substance, dirt, and products secreted by the skin
of the animal. The natural oil secreted keeps the fiber
in a soft condition, and must not be entirely removed
before manufacture. Different compositions are given
for raw wools, the impurities varying from fifty to eighty
per cent of the weight of the fleece.

Matthews classifies these impurities as follows:1

a. Grease or wool fat.

b. Suint or dried-up perspiration.

c. Dirt, consisting of dust, sand, burrs, etc.

Suint, or yolk, is a secretion from the skin of the
sheep ; it is soluble in water and contains potash salts of
fatty acids. This suint coats the fibers when they are
on the back of the animal, and prevents them from felt-
ing. It also keeps them soft after shearing.

Strong alkali removes all oil, making the wool harsh,
and also destroys the fiber if its action is allowed to
proceed far enough. Five per cent caustic soda dis-
solves wool at boiling temperature in ten minutes. On
the other hand, dilute mineral acids have no injurious
effect, and the most concentrated acids dissolve wool
only when heated.

It is possible to mercerize wool with caustic alkali,
and the mercerization is more effective if glycerol is
present. The wool becomes strong and more lustrous,
both qualities probably being due to the fusion of the

laboratory Manual of Dyeing and Textile Chemistry, p. 15.

WOOL 71

scales on the surface of the fibers, which present a more
continuous reflecting surface and are not so easily pulled
apart'. Mercerized wool is not used much for commer-
cial purposes. An increased luster may be given to wool
by the action of chlorine, a process that is used com-
mercially. Both these changes increase the affinity of
the fiber for dyestuffs and also destroy the felting prop-
erty. Novel effects are produced in cloth by the com-
bination of chlorinated with unchlorinated wool, the two
differing in the amount of dye taken up and also in
the amount of shrinking and felting.

Lime has a deleterious effect on wool, making it
harsh and brittle. Therefore, when wool is pulled from
the skins of dead animals, as is sometimes the case, lime
being put on the back of the skin to loosen the wool,
great care must be taken that no, lime remains in the
wool.

Water at 130° C. under pressure disorganizes the
fiber, and at a higher temperature dissolves it completely.

Wool is bleached with the fumes of sulphur or with
hydrogen peroxide. The latter process is, however, too
expensive for wide application. The affinity of the ani-
mal fibers for dyestuffs is much greater than that of the
vegetable fibers. Wool may be dyed in many dyestuffs
without the use of an assistant, and the color is quite
lasting.

Physical Structure and Properties. Physically the
wool fiber is a complex arrangement of cells. An inner
or medullary layer, containing the natural pigment, may
or may not be present ; in highest bred, pure white wool
they are lacking. The cortical layer gives the fiber its

72 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

strength and also absorbs dyestuffs, while the outside
layer* of horny scales, generally overlapping each other
and projecting out from the surface of the fiber to a
greater or less extent, gives it that characteristic pecul-
iar to wool, the property which the fibers have of felt-
ing together, so that cloth may be made without spinning
or weaving. These serrations produced on the surface
of the fiber hook into each other, especially when the
fiber is warm and moist and the scales open more ; then
when dry again they hold fast together. To this prop-
erty the shrinking of wool is also due.

The difference between hair and wool is largely in
this layer of horny scales. On hair they are much less
marked, and often do not project at all at the edges.
The internal structure of the two varies so in different
varieties of each that it is hard to make a distinction ;
in fact, some wools are so similar to hairs that it is
difficult to distinguish between the two.

Between hair and wool are a number of fibers vary-
ing in the number of scales and the amount of projec-
tion. Among these are alpaca, llama, camel, and others
already mentioned. The distinction is sometimes made
that hair is straight and wool is curly, or that hair is
stiffer than wool ; but here again the difference is some-
times greater between the extremes of wool or the ex-
tremes of hairs than between a given wool and a given
hair.

The microscopic structure of the wool fiber serves
to distinguish it from all other textile fibers, as well as
to distinguish the different kinds of wool from each
other.

WOOL 73

The amount of luster which wool has also depends
on the scales. If the edges of the scales are rough
and uneven, the fiber as a whole will not be as smooth
and lustrous as a fiber in which the scales are more
regular and reflect the light evenly. The fiber from the
Angora goat, which has less prominent scales, has
greater luster than the wool from most sheep, but
there is also great variation in different breeds of
sheep.

In certain classes of sheep, or on fleeces which have
had very hard wear, fibers often lack part of this sur-
face layer of cells, are irregular in size or even may
be bent at an angle, lack strength, and are therefore
not as valuable as the perfect fibers. They lack luster
usually, cause trouble in manufacture, and do not al-
ways take dye, and so make a streak in the finished
cloth. These fibers are called kemps.

In tensile strength and elasticity wool fibers vary
greatly. The structure of the fiber makes it elastic and
also gives it strength. The kinky nature of the wool
also makes it elastic. In its hygroscopic property, or
power to absorb water, wool stands first among fibers,
being able to absorb within itself as much as fifty per cent
of water without appearing wet, although the average
amount of moisture absorbed is twelve to fourteen per
cent. In European and English markets sixteen to nine-
teen per cent of water is usually allowed in wool. This
percentage varies with the form of the wool, whether
loose, combed, yarns, etc. The price is regulated accord-
ing to the percentage of water. So important is this. per-
centage of water to the buyer that there are condition-

74 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

ing houses whose business it is to determine the amount
of water in samples of wool.

Preparation for Market. The woolgrower, when
the proper season of the year has arrived, gathers his
flocks for shearing. The time varies in different cli-
mates, but is in the spring when the sheep no longer
needs its wool for warmth. Different practices are em-
ployed in shearing; sometimes the sheep are washed
in a running stream and then shut in a pen until
they are thoroughly dried, or turned onto clean grass
or straw, but more often they are not washed at all.
The manufacturer often prefers unwashed pelts, because
washing removes the suint; and unless the sheep are
allowed to run fong enough after the process to excrete
more of this substance, the wool becomes harsh. There
is also danger of felting the wool if there is any rub-
bing ; therefore washing in running water is better than
any other, since it carries off the dirt more easily and
provides a constant supply of clear water.

Shearing consists in removing with shears the en-
tire fleece of the sheep in one continuous sheet. Often
the shearing is done by a machine, which gives rather
better results than hand shearing, as it is more even.
The pelt or fleece from each sheep is rolled into a com-
pact bundle, and here again care must be taken that no
dirt or vegetable matter is rolled up with the wool. The
sheep should be sheared in a place free from straw, and
no vegetable fiber cord should be used in tying the bun-
dles, as it may become mixed with the wool and cause
difficulty later. The single fleeces are combined into bags
or bales and sent to market.

WOOL 75

Points in Buying. In buying wool the following
points are among those considered : fineness, evenness,
quality of scale, color, strength, length, softness, and
amount of moisture.

Sorting. The first process after the wool reaches
the manufacturer is opening and sorting the bales of
fleeces. The task of the woolsorter is not the most
pleasant. In the first place the fleeces are very dirty
and odorous and, more serious still, often contain an-
thrax germs, which produce the disease commonly
known as woolsorter's disease, with sometimes fatal re-
sults. To lessen the danger of contracting anthrax the
best factories provide screens on the top of a duct,
through which air is sucked. The expert woolsorter un-
rolls his fleece on top of this screen. The dust and
germs are drawn down together as he rapidly separates
the wool into the different grades, putting each grade
into a basket provided for it.

Scouring. The wool must next be freed from the
large percentage of different impurities present. Dirt
and animal matter from the ground, vegetable matter,
burrs, leaves, sticks, etc., and the various excretions of
the skin of the sheep are matted into the fleece. Several
processes are necessary to remove these different impu-
rities. First, the wool is washed. This opens the little
scales of the woolen fibers, and allows them to shake
apart and spread out. Hot water makes the wool harsh,
so a moderate temperature must be maintained. Soap
is used to remove the grease and dirt, but here again
care must be used, for strong free alkali injures the
wool. The alkaline carbonates seem to be best suited

76 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

for scouring, as at moderate temperatures they do not
appear to harm the wool.

Soft water is necessary for successful washing, and
if only hard water is attainable it must be softened or
have the lime precipitated by caustic soda. A soft pot-
ash soap ' should then be used, and in the last waters
this soap should be neutral.

The wool is washed by being moved slowly through
long troughs containing the water, soap, and carbonate.
It is then squeezed through rollers.

The wash water contains valuable potash from the
suint of the wool, and also oil and other substances,
which are extracted for fertilizer and various purposes.

Drying. The wool must next be dried. Here again
care must be used. Wool dried by artificial heat too
rapidly is harsh. The best methods are either to lay the
wool on a netting and blow heated air up through it
or, better still, to dry it in a hydro-extractor, which, re-
volving at a high speed, forces the water out at the
sides.-

Carbonization is the process used to remove the
vegetable impurities which do not come out in the
scouring. These burrs, etc., stick so closely to the wool
that the best method for removing them seems to be to
destroy the vegetable matter completely by a chemical
which does not harm the wool. Ordinarily the wool is
saturated with dilute sulphuric acid, which is then dried.
The drying process removes the water from the acid,
which then takes up the water of the vegetable matter,
thus disintegrating it. As the burrs, etc., then fall to
pieces, a dusting process removes the pieces; the wash-

WOOL 77

ing which the wool must undergo to remove the acid
also removes the burrs.

The burring machine sometimes removes the burrs
by a mechanical process, but this is not so satisfactory
as carbonization.

When the wool has been washed thoroughly, dried,
and carbonized, so much of the natural oil has been re-
moved that if it is to be soft some oil must be returned
before the succeeding processes are carried on. The
best grades of oil are used for wool to be made into
worsted yarns, as the oil remains in them longer; in
woolen, however, it is all washed out in the milling
processes ; therefore cheaper oils may be used. The
wool has now been converted from a dirty, oily, com-
pact mass into a loose, fluffy, white pile, with compara-
tively little impurity, although still much tangled. The
next step must be to convert this tangled mass into
even, fine threads. Here the process is divided, first,
into the making of woolen yarn; second, into the mak-
ing of worsted yarn.

Woolen and Worsted. Various distinctions are
given between these two yarns ; viz., that woolen is made
from short wool and wrorsted from long wool, and that
woolen is carded and worsted combed. While both these
statements are to a certain extent true, the real dis-
tinction lies in the fact that woolen thread has is fibers
running in many directions, more or less tangled, while
worsted thread has its fibers quite parallel. Since
woolen cloths are quite largely felted, this crisscross-
ing in every direction leaves many loose ends of fibers
exposed on the surface to mat together and form a

WOOL

compact material. Worsted, on the other hand, usually
shows the threads of the weave, and therefore needs
to have the ends of the threads held in place, so not to
produce a felted or rough surface. The short fibers
seem best suited for woolen and the longer fibers for
worsted. The processes used to bring about these two
results are quite different.

FIG. 22. — PROCESS IN WOOLEN MANUFACTURE

A. Wool from sheep's back B. Scoured wool C. Dyed in raw state

D, E. Carded F. Spun

Woolen Yarns. In making woolen yarn, the fewest
processes by which it is possible to get the fiber into the
form of yarn are used. There are, perhaps, two sets
of carding machines; and as the sliver from the first
card is fed into the second it is fed sidewise, thus keep-
ing the fibers more entangled than if it .was put in
lengthwise. The second carder feeds to the condenser,
which delivers a soft, small rope ready to be spun. The
principle of the wool-carding machine is like that of the
cotton card; series of bristles mounted in rollers and

8O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

leathern aprons brush the fibers out smooth and some-
what parallel, and form them into a thin sheet. The con-
denser takes the sheet from the last card and separates
it into a number of small rovings or ropes, ready for the
mule spinner.

Spinning. The mule is especially suited to spinning
woolen. In it the thread is drawn out to a distance of
about two yards, the revolving bobbin twists it, then the
thread is wound on the bobbin.

Fancy Yarns. Different sorts of fancy woolen yarns
may be made by twisting two yarns together or by wind-
ing one yarn irregularly about another, and by other
methods. Colors may be varied by dyeing the wool be-
fore it is carded, or by mixing different colored wools
before they are carded, large, thin sheets of one color
being spread on top of another, sprinkled with oil, and
then the whole put through the carding machines. Ir-
regular twists or combinations of cotton or silk, twisted
with wool, give variety in yarn.

Worsted Yarns. As has been said, in worsted thread
all the fibers are laid as nearly parallel as possible :
therefore, all the processes in its preparation for spin-
ning have as their object this straightening out of the
fibers. Not all worsteds are alike, but are usually di-
vided into three classes, the first and finest class requir-
ing most processes and being most parallel, the next
not quite so even, and the third class of carpet yarns
being least parallel.

The processes by which the desired results are ob-
tained vary with different wools. Short wools are
carded, as for woolen yarns, care being used to place the

WOOL

fibers as much in one direction as possible. The speed
of the cards must be regulated to prevent- tearing the
wool, and when the process is complete the wool is re-
moved from the card in a soft, untwisted rope, similar

™ H

IffXJ*.^

FIG. 23. — PROCESS IN WORSTED MANUFACTURE

1. Unwashed wool 2. Scoured and picked 3. Carded

4-7. Combed

2. Scoured and picked

8-18. Stages of drawi

to the sliver from the cotton card. Another preparatory
process, and the one commonly used for long wools, con-
sists in passing through a set of gill boxes, whose func-
tion is as follows: "Their task is to comb and straighten
out the wool without definitely removing the short fi-
bers, and their working parts are fairly simple. There
are two pairs of horizontal rollers, and between them a
number of actual combs, their teeth in a vertical posi-
tion. The trade does not use the word comb in this

82 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

connection, but it applies strictly. Faller is the technical
term, a word which describes the motion rather than
the character of these combs, for each in turn moves
forward along a pair of screws, with and through the
wool, falls as it reaches the second pair of rollers, is
carried back on a low level pair of screws, raised by a
lever to its former position, and so da capo. Before
entering the first pair of rollers the locks of wool are
laid parallel and roughly straightened by hand. As the
fallers move faster than the front rollers, and the back
rollers faster than the fallers, the wool is at the same
time dragged straight and combed straight. The boxes
are of course graduated: in the first there may be two
pins to an inch on the fallers; the last has fourteen to
sixteen. Long wool usually goes through half a dozen
boxes, is then washed, oiled again, and put through at
least two more boxes before it is sent to be combed, in
the technical sense of the word. The slivers are joined
together and drawn out, finer than before, again and
again during the process, so that the last sliver of all
is sure to be uniform in structure from end to end."

It is difficult to understand these different operations
without having the machine before one, but the whole
principle of the gill boxes is to comb the threads niore
and more parallel, to draw them out into more even
strands.

The combing proper which follows, besides completing
this process of straightening, removes the short fibers,
or, as is usually stated, separates the long fibers, or
"tops," from the short ones, or "noil." The combing

^lapham. The Woolen and Worsted Industries, p. 39.

WOOL 83

machine is a very\complicated one, and no effort will
be made here to describe it. The fibers are caught in
the teeth of a revolving circle of metal, from which
they are removed by rollers set too far apart to catch
the short fibers which drop out. The comb is heated,
since the wool seems to work better when warmed.

Before the spinning the wool must go through two
or three more gill boxes and then be drawn. Drawing
is a simple process by which two br more slivers of wool
are put through two sets of rollers, the second revolving
faster than the first. These draw out the strand until the
resulting sliver is smaller than either original one. This
process is repeated again and again, the sliver becoming
smaller and smaller, and during the last few processes a
slight twist is given to it. Spinning then serves to impart
a final twist and the worsted yarn is ready for use.

This process is the one used for the best worsted
yarns. Those which are made from shorter wools,
carded, are put through two or three gill boxes, combed,
then drawn and spun, while the carpet yarns and coarse
knitting yarns are merely carded. These distinctions are
not always exact, as two kinds may be combined, but in
general these are the three processes for the different
worsteds.

The spinning of woolens and worsteds does not differ
greatly. The mule used commonly for woolen is some-
times used for worsted also, although the use of the
flyer frame for worsteds is more general.

Weaving is now a purely automatic process. The
loom has only to be threaded with the warp, the smooth
bobbins wound with filling, and the machinery set in

84 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

motion. The whole process is marvelous to watch. This
automaton is the result of the perfection of inventions,
of many centuries of human skill, and of comparatively
few years of invention of mechanical devices. Only the
tying of broken threads, the putting in of yarn, and the
taking out of the cloth must be done by hand.

Finishing. The cloth which comes from the loom is
far from being a finished product; in fact, so much is
yet to be done that there are establishments whose only
business is finishing woolen and worsted cloth. These
finishing processes convert a coarse, rough, dull-looking
material into our most beautiful broadcloths or worsted
suitings.

Here again a distinction must be made between
woolens and worsteds, for their surface is as different
as the thread from which they are made. Woolen with
fibers crossed in many directions in its threads may have
the ends of these fibers raised on the surface, matted
together, sheared, pressed, until the threads of the weave
are completely hidden by the felted surface. Worsted,
on the other hand, has gone through a long series of
processes in order that it may be a smooth, regular, and
perfect thread which weaves into a firm, regular cloth.
Therefore its surface shows each thread, and any fin-
ishing process has for its object polishing and bring-
ing out the individual threads. For this same reason
variety and interest are given to the different kinds of
worsted cloths by carefully worked out diagonal and
pattern weaves, while woolen is ordinarily woven with
a plain weave. When the cloth comes from the loom
it must be thoroughly examined, defective places darned

WOOL 85

if necessary, knots tied, and ends cut off. All woolens,
as well as worsteds, when they come from the loom
need to be thoroughly washed. Washing has more than
one purpose ; it not only removes the oil and dirt gath-
ered in the mills, but also shrinks the cloth. Shrinking
is increased by the application of heat and pressure,
especially pressure exerted with a rubbing motion from
side to side. Such a process is employed in finishing
woolens and is known as milling or fulling, and pro-
duces a very close, compact surface.

Teasling, so called because of a small vegetable cone
or teasle most commonly used in the process, consists
in picking up the nap of the surface loose ends. This
nap is then brushed, sheared, pressed, polished, steamed,
and given various treatments to increase its luster, its
evenness, and its smoothness. In some materials whose
finished surface is rough, most of these processes of
brushing, steaming, pressing, etc., which follow teasling
are omitted and the nap is left uneven.

When the material has been felted, had its surface
raised, and other modifications in its original texture
have been made, it is prepared for the market by a
stretching process known as tentering. The cloth is
stretched to a uniform width on tenter hooks arranged
in rows on beams, which may be adjusted to the desired
width of the cloth.

A final light sizing and pressing prepare the cloth
for folding, baling, and sending to the wholesale dealer.

The felted surface which is given to woolen affords
excellent opportunity for adulteration, cotton or other
fibers being easily concealed beneath the wool.

86 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Mohair. Mohair is a material made from the long,
lustrous hair of the Angora goat, and is woven usually
with a cotton or silk warp. It furnishes a smooth, hard-
surfaced material, which wears well, sheds the dirt, and
is inexpensive. Alpaca, which somewhat resembles mo-
hair, is made from the wool of the domesticated alpaca,
and is stiffer than mohair.

Made-over Wool. Aside from the different varie-
ties of wool used for cloth, and the adulteration of
wool by cotton or by sizing, there are certain wool
substitutes whose use has grown very rapidly in the last
generation. These substitutes are classed under the
name shoddy. The term shoddy has come to be applied
to any inferior goods or material which pretends to be
better than it is. Technically speaking, however, shoddy
means made-over wool, and more strictly one particular
grade of made-over wool.

For a hundred years the manufacturer has made
cloth, either entirely or partially, from old rags pulled
apart, respun, and rewoven into cloth. The industry
has grown steadily, and the proportion of shoddy to the
new wool produced has increased until now it is about
one-third as great as the new wool industry.

The rags bought up by the rag man are sent, to the
larger rag dealer, then to the shoddy manufacturer.
Here they are sorted into different grades according to
composition, all wool or mixed goods, according to
color and to quality. These rags are then dusted,
washed, and pulled to pieces by rollers set with teeth.

Shoddy. Fibers from worsted rags or knit goods
are longest and best and are called shoddy. They may

WOOL 87

be mixed with new wool or with cotton and woven
into new cloth, or they may be woven alone.

Mungo. Fibers^, from woolen cloth that has been
felted are naturally shorter and more broken when
separated, and make an inferior grade of material,
known as mungo.

Extract. Rags which contain a mixture of cotton
and wool have the cotton separated out by a process of
carbonization. The rags are treated with dilute acid,
usually sulphuric, dried, crushed to destroy the weakened
fibers, neutralized, and dried. The rags are then torn
to pieces to produce a grade of fibers known as extract.

Flocks. The last and poorest class of shoddy con-
sists of the very short clippings from tailor establish-
ments or mills, called flocks. These are too short to
weave alone, but may be felted into the surface of
woolen cloth to add weight.

Spinning and weaving shoddy, mungo, or extract
does not differ from other woolen spinning, except that
the poorer grades of shoddy, and practically all mungo
and extract, must be mixed with a longer fiber, either
wool or cotton, in order that it may be spun.

The especial value of shoddy lies in the fact that it
has greatly increased the supply of woolen cloth on the
market, thereby reducing the cost of good wool, as well
as providing a cheap wool. It brings woolen cloth
within the reach of many who could not otherwise
afford it. While ordinarily material made up entirely
or in part from shoddy has not the wearing quality of
new wool, it has warmth, and the best grade may be
even better than the poorest grade of new wool.

88 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Microscopically, shoddy may be distinguished from
new wool in that the fibers are not as uniform in size
or general character. The color of the different fibers
often varies considerably, the ends may be broken and un-
even, and often the scales are gone in parts of the fiber.
Cotton fibers are not infrequently found with shoddy.

Some shoddy is longer than the shortest wool, so
the length of the fiber is not a true test. The poorer
grades of shoddy will make a thread which breaks
easily, like rotten string. One needs to guard against
this grade if durability in the finished cloth is a con-
sideration.

The fibers called flocks, felted into the surface of
cloth, rub out after some wear, collecting in the linings
of coats, the hems of dresses, etc., and leaving the surface
of the cloth threadbare.

Felt. Woolen fibers, because of their ability to hold
together, may be made into cloth without the processes
of spinning and weaving.

The wool used to make felt is cleaned, then carded
into sheets several feet wide and very thin. These
sheets are put one on top of another until the pile
is about one inch thick, and are then passed through
a series of rollers submerged in water. One roller is of
wood, the other of tin filled with steam. The motion of
the rollers is from side to side, as well as revolving,
and the combined action of heat, moisture, and pressure
opens the scales of the wool, tangles and mats it until
felt is the result. This material is then dyed or printed,
if so desired, is tentered and pressed, and then goes to
the market.

WOOL 89

Hair and cotton may be mixed with wool in limited
quantities. This is done either before carding, as in
case of cotton, or layers of hair may be mixed with the
layers of wool, and the whole felted.

By these varied processes the dirty mass of wool
which comes to the factory is transformed into many
kinds of cloth to suit the needs and demands of a nov-
elty-loving public.

With the changes in conditions of living, with warm
houses, overheated public buildings, cars, trains, etc.,
the requirement for woolen underclothing has decreased.
Although cotton, linen, and silk have replaced wool in
many uses, for some purposes it is almost indispensable.
For use in babies' flannels, underclothing for men work-
ing in places of , extreme heat or cold, for protection
from the wind, and for many other purposes, wool is
the best material known, and the demand for it increases
continually.

REFERENCES

Barker, A. F. Textiles.

Beaumont, Robert. Woolen and Worsted Cloth Manu-
facture.

Bowman, Fred H. Structure of the Wool Fibre.

Burnley, J. History of Wool and Wool Combing.

Clapham, J. H. The Woolen and Worsted Industries.

MacLaren, W. S. B. Spinning Woolen and Worsted.

Matthews, J. M. Textile Fibres.

Posselt, E. A. Wool, Cotton, Silk, from Fibre to Fin-
ished Fabric.

Priestman, Howard. Principles of Woolen Spinning.

CHAPTER VI
SILK

TT7E now have to deal with a fiber which is very
different in structure and physical characteristics
from any other of those commonly used. In origin, al-
though an animal fiber, silk differs from wool and hair
in being the secretion of an internal gland of the silk-
worm, while wool is an epidermal appendage. Other
worms and spiders produce a similar secretion, but only
the silkworm has furnished us with a fiber strong enough
to be spun into thread and of such a nature that it is
prized above all other textile materials.

History. The use of silk by man does not, like the
other textile industries, date back before the dawn of
history. It has been a comparatively recent develop-
ment. Chinese records tell us that in 2700 B.C. the
Empress Se-ling-chi investigated the silkworm cocoon,
reeled the silk filament from it, spun thread, and had
it woven into garments. For many hundreds of years
the Chinese carefully guarded their secret. At first only
the royal family carried on the industry, but gradually
it spread and became national. Chinese silks were car-
ried all over Asia, but the process of making them was
still kept secret, while to carry the eggs of the silkworm
out of the country was punishable by death. As a re-
sult, although silk of some other varieties was produced
in neighboring countries of the Far East by carding the

SILK QI

fibers from the cocoon, it was not until about the fifth
century A.D. that the process of reeling was known
outside of China.

The Emperor Justinian, 555 A.D., is said to have
bribed two Nestorian monks to bring some silkworm
eggs from China. They accomplished this by concealing
the eggs in the hollows of their bamboo staffs. Silk cul-
ture in the Levant dates from about this time. Through
the Moors sericulture was brought into Spain about
the ninth century, and by the twelfth, century it had
reached Italy, where it gradually developed until it be-
came a national industry. France began sericulture dur-
ing the thirteenth century, and in the sixteenth century
some Flemish weavers brought the industry to Spital-
fields in London. It was encouraged by royalty in both
England and France, but the culture in England has
never been very successful. Thus it was more than four
thousand years from the time silk reeling was first dis-
covered until it had spread over Europe. Silk fabrics,
however, were an important article of commerce as early
as in the days of the Roman Empire.

In 1838 Mr. Samuel Whitmarsh introduced sericul-
ture to America, and repeated efforts have been made by
individuals and by the government to encourage the in-
dustry in various parts of this country, but none of these
have met with any marked success. Beginnings were
made in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, but both these
enterprises were cut short by the untimely freezing of
the mulberry trees upon which the silkworm feeds. A
recent attempt in Utah is proving unsuccessful because
of a lack of skilled labor to reel the cocoons. The hope

92 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

that communities where the women and children have
no employment might take up this industry to increase
their incomes seems to be vain. The greatest difficulty,
apparently, is in the reeling of the cocoons. That this
is not the only difficulty is shown by the fact that even
when the government set up a filature to carry on this
work, the returns from the silkgrowers were very small.
The cheapness of labor in silk-producing countries makes
it apparently impossible for the United States to compete
in this part of the industry. Better organization and
more skilled labor might lessen the difficulty, but since
the silk is of rather inferior quality, and has been pro-
duced at a cost of four or five dollars a pound, while
imported raw silk can be bought for from four to eleven
dollars a pound, the outlook is not encouraging. It
should be noted, however, that at the present time one-
third of all the silk cloth manufactured in the world is
made in this country from raw silk imported from south-
ern Europe and Asia.

Present Industry. The countries in which silkworm
cultivation is most successful are Italy, France, Spain,
Austria, China, Japan, and India. The French and Ital-
ian silks are better reeled than much of the Chinese and
Japanese, as these countries do not always use the most
improved machines.

There are two distinct types of silk produced, that
from the cultivated silkworm, or Bomby.v Mori, carefully
reared and fed on the leaves of the white mulberry tree,
and that from several varieties of wild silkworms which
are not carefully reared and which feed on other kinds of
trees. The cultivated silk is as a rule finer and more even

SILK 93

than the wild, and may be much more readily spun from
the cocoon. The wild silks, however, furnish an attrac-
tive variety of fabric, commonly known as pongee or
tussur. Japan, China, and India all produce these wild
silks.

The silk industry, although not nearly so large as the
cotton or woolen industries, is important, in that it pro-
vides us with a beautiful fiber which has been unequaled
in fineness, luster, and strength. As has been said, this
industry is most successful where labor is very cheap,
because of the large amount of hand work required in
the culture of the worms and in the reeling of the silk
from the cocoons. Necessarily, the cultivation is restricted
to countries where the mulberry tree will flourish.

Physical and Chemical Structure and Character-
istics. As an animal fiber, silk has some characteristics
resembling wool, but in its physical structure it is very
different. While wool consists of layers of cells of dif-
ferent kinds, silk has no cell structure. The length of
the silk fiber makes it unlike any other. A carefully
reeled fiber from a perfect cocoon may be from three
to four thousand feet long. In evenness, strength, and
fineness the fiber will differ slightly in different parts
of the cocoon, the best part being in the center. The
first silk reeled from the cocoon, together with the in-
nermost layers, is less strong and even, and somewhat
finer.

The pure silk fiber is transparent and lustrous, but
as it comes from the cocoon it is covered with a coat-
ing of gum, which conceals the luster shown by the fiber
when the gum has been removed. Pure silk is very

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

strong, being sometimes compared to an iron wire of
the same diameter. It is also very elastic.

Scroop is the term applied to the rustle peculiar to
silk, but is not a quality inherent in the fiber. Scroop
is produced by treatment with dilute acid, acetic or
tartaric, which is allowed to dry on the surface of the
silk.

The hygroscopic power of silk is high ; 30 per cent
of water may be taken up and a great amount of dye-

FIG. 24. — RAW SILK FIBER,
GUM ADHERING

FIG. 25. — SILK FIBER,
GUM BOILED OFF

stuff and metallic salts may be absorbed without in any
degree changing the appearance of the silk. This prop-
erty is made use of in adulteration by the process of
weighting, when a large amount of foreign matter, min-
eral salts and dyes, is added to the silk. In the case of
heavy fringes as much as 200 to 300 per cent of the
weight of the fiber is sometimes added.

The microscopic appearance of cultivated or mul-
berry silk shows two fibers, each smooth, round, and
structureless, united by the gum secreted at the same

SILK 95

time that the liber is formed. There are no markings
on silk from which the gum has been removed, but
threads from woven cloth usually show some grains of
dyestuffs or weighting material.

Wild or tussur silks are very different from culti-
vated silks in microscopic appearance. Instead of being
round, regular fibers, they are flat and somewhat ir-
regular. While true silk has rarely any longitudinal stri-
ations, the wild silks are quite definitely marked, the

FIG. 26. — WILD SILK FIBER

fibers sometimes having a twisted appearance, while
the ends often appear frayed, as if the fiber were com-
posed of small fibrils which had begun to separate.

Chemically, silk is composed of fibroin, a protein
substance differing from wool in containing no sulphur.
Its reactions are similar to those of wool. Alkalies do
not act as readily on silk as on wool, but when concen-
trated dissolve the fiber, while dilute alkalies weaken it.
Concentrated mineral acids rapidly dissolve the fiber,
but dilute acids have little injurious effect. Silk readily
absorbs these acids from dilute solutions. Acetic and

96 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

other dilute organic acids produce the scroop, or rustle,
already spoken of.

Solutions of common salt have a deleterious effect
on silk, greatly weakening the fiber. In some climates,
on islands in the sea, for example, silk is so weakened
by the salt in the atmosphere that it drops to pieces.
This action is increased when the silks have been heav-
ily weighted. Other salts produce this same result to
a certain extent, as is shown by the rotting of heavily
weighted silk when laid away for some time and the
weakening of silk by perspiration.

Silk has, perhaps, a greater affinity for coloring mat-
ters in general than any other fiber, and may be dyed
a great number of tones and hues.

Silk Culture. The silk industry may be divided into
two distinct parts, the culture of the silkworm and the
manufacture of the fiber into thread and cloth.

Only one of the two types of silk mentioned, the
Bomby.Y Mori, or mulberry silk, has been extensively
cultivated. The wild silk cocoons are gathered from
trees where the worms have spun them, and little at-
tention is paid to the worm during its growth. The
cultivation of the mulberry silkworm is, however, a
delicate operation, and the value of the silk depends
largely on the care and food of the worms.

The silk culture is usually carried on in rooms or
sheds devoted to its use, and requires much hand labor.
In July the moth lays several hundred eggs about the
size of mustard seeds, which, by virtue of a gummy
substance secreted with them, stick to a clqth that has
been provided for this purpose. This cloth is hung up

SILK

to dry, then put away in the dark and cold until Feb-
ruary or March, when it is brought out and hung in a
warm place. In about thirty days the tiny worm, one-
eighth of an inch in length, hatches; it immediately
begins to eat the mulberry leaves which have been pro-
vided for it. These worms are kept on trays in a room
of the right temperature, and are supplied with fresh

FIG. 27. — MULBERRY LEAF AND SILKWORM EGGS

The dark eggs are unhatched

leaves two or three times a day. The silkworm is a
voracious eater and grows very rapidly. After about
five or six days it molts ; this process is repeated four
times during the thirty to thirty-five days from the
hatching of the worm to the spinning of the cocoon.
At the end of this time the worm stops eating. Its
length is now about three inches, but it begins to
shrink and becomes almost transparent before spinning
its cocoon.

^8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

From two glands, the openings of which are on either
side of the mouth, a viscous substance is secreted, which
hardens upon contact with the air. At the same time
two other glands secrete a gummy substance which
causes the two fibers to adhere. The single fiber is
called brin ; the double fiber, bave. As the worm spins,
its head is thrown in such a way that the thread is spun
in the form of a series of figure eights, this regular
arrangement aiding the unwinding later on. Before
spinning the cocoon proper, however, the worm fastens
a few threads about itself to form a connection with
the nearest twig or leaf; then the compact cocoon is
spun about the worm, completely concealing it. The
spinning, however, continues until the worm is well pro-
tected by its little case, when it goes into the dormant
or pupa stage. If undisturbed, after a period of rest
the moth emerges from the cocoon fully developed, lives
long enough to mate and lay eggs, then dies. Thus the
cycle of the life of the silkworm is completed — egg,
worm, pupa, and moth.

The exit of the moth from the cocoon injures the
value of the silk for the market, since the moth mois-
tens the threads at one end of the cocoon and pushes
its way out, entangling them in such a way as to in-
terfere with the successful reeling of the silk. For this
reason the cocoons are heated in a warm oven or
steamed to kill the pupa within, enough cocoons being
saved to provide moths for the next season's eggs.

During the cultivation the silkgrower must exercise
great care that the worms are kept clean, that they are
not crowded, that sufficient food is provided, and the

SILK 99

rooms kept at the proper temperature. Diseases due
to irregular feeding, to germs and fungi, may reduce
the production of silk enormously.

The very rapid growth of sericulture in Southern
Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century
led to carelessness and overcrowding, which resulted
in a serious epidemic among the silkworms. In 1865
Louis Pasteur, the famous French bacteriologist, began
the study of this epidemic and discovered that the dis-
ease was caused by a germ, and also that by micro-
scopic examination and rejection of the eggs which car-
ried the infection the disease might be avoided. This
discovery was the salvation of the silk industry, not
only in France and Southern Europe, but in other silk-
growing countries as well. By careful selection and
cultivation of the mulberry plants, breeding, microscopic
inspection of the eggs, and improved methods of han-
dling the worm the industry has increased rapidly in
Southern Europe in the last half century.

Silk Reeling. The quality of raw silk as it reaches
the manufacturer has been determined largely by care
and skill used in reeling the silk filaments from the
cocoon. The process is one which requires great pa-
tience and skill, as the requirements of a perfectly
reeled thread are that it shall be even and contain no
knots. Since all the cocoons do not furnish threads
of exactly the same length, and the fiber varies in
fineness in different parts of the cocoon, the reeler must
know just when to add a new thread and just how to
keep the threads even.

In the filiatnres where silk is reeled hand work is

1OO HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

supplemented by a machine-turned reel, the basins in
which the gun* is softened are heated by steam, and
many improvements have been made over the old
processes still in use in parts of China, where the
results are much inferior in quality. When the pupa
of the silkworm has been killed the cocoons are sorted,
and those of like fineness, color, luster, and degree of
perfection are placed together. These cocoons are then
plunged into a basin of warm water to soften the gum
which holds the fibers together, and the outside loose
fibers which cannot be reeled are removed. The reeler
then takes a brush and finds the ends of the outside
fibers, which are carefully unwound until one is found
which is continuous. The fibers from four or five co-
coons are united and passed through an agate ring.
To make the fibers stick together the thread is then
twisted about one coming from another ring, separated
from that thread again, and passed through a second
ring onto the reel. By the use of improved machines
the reeler is enabled to watch several sets of cocoons
at once. He must see that a broken fiber is immediately
replaced by another, and when the fiber draws near the
end and becomes too weak he must replace it by a
better.

The skein of silk taken from the reel is twisted, and
constitutes the raw silk of commerce. The individual
fibers of the thread are stuck together by the silk gum ;
the silk is harsh, due also to the gum, but the skein is,
nevertheless, beautiful. These skeins are packed into
bundles called books, are baled, covered with matting,
and sent to the manufacturer.

SILK IOI

Silk Manufacture. Because of the length of the
silk fiber, and the fact that it is alrea/ly a thread in
form, the processes which it must undergo at the fac-
tory are much more simple than those required for cot-
ton and wool. Although there have already been four
'or five fibers united into one thread in reeling, this is
not yet of sufficient strength for weaving, and several
of these threads must be united and twisted. The proc-
esses of doubling or twisting as carried on at the factory
are known as throwing.

Throwing may be divided into five processes :

^ Rewinding the raw silk from skeins onto bobbins
or cops.

vCleaning by passing the thread through two fixed
plates, so closely adjusted as to stop the machinery if
there is a knot or irregularity. In some hand-reeled
Chinese silks there are many of these irregularities,
which must be removed, as the luster and beauty of fin-
ished silk depend on perfect evenness of thread.

^. Doubling, uniting threads from several bobbins to
form one thread.

xi Spinning, giving a twist to the thread, the amount
of twist varying according to the use for which the
thread is designed.

<j Resolving silk into tram and organzine. Tram is
the. thread used for filling in silk cloth and consists of
two or more single threads having no twist, combined
and twisted just enough to hold for weaving. Organ-
zine is the thread used for warp; and since it must be
stronger than the filling in order to stand the strain of
the loom, it is made up of two threads, one twisted in

IO2 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

one direction, the other in the other direction, and then
the two twisted together. As organzine must have
strength it is made from the best quality of silk, but
because of the amount of twist it lacks luster. The
rilling thread, since it does not require such great
strength, has less twist and a higher luster. Singles is
the name given to a thread which has no twist, and it
may be used as filling for cloth which is to be dyed
in the piece.

Cleaning. The completion of the throwing process
leaves the silk in a form suitable for weaving, but there
is still present the silk gum, which hides the luster and
makes the silk harsh. True silk fiber, or fibroin, consti-
tutes about 60 to 70 per cent of raw silk; the other 20
to 30 per cent is sericin, or silk gum. This sericin is
soluble in warm, soapy water, and must now be re-
moved from the silk thread. The coloring matter of
silk is partly in the sericin, partly in the fiber, so that
the process which removes the gum also removes part
of the color.

Not all silk requires the complete removal of the silk
gum, but silks are classified according to the degree of
cleansing.

Boiled-off silk is silk which has all of the gum re-
moved.

Souple silk has one-sixth of the gum removed. Ecru
silk has one-twelfth of the gum removed.

Boiled-off silk goes through three operations:

i. Stripping, or ungumming. In this process the silk
yarn is softened in a soft-water solution of a good cocoa-
nut or olive oil soap. The hanks are hung in vats and the

SILK IO3

water is gradually heated to 200° F. During this treat-
ment the silk swells, becomes sticky, and the gum washes
off, leaving the fiber more glossy. One-half to one
hour is the time required, after which the silk is

FIG. 28. — SILK COCOONS AND SKEINS

A. Cocoons B. Silk reeled as it comes to market C. Silk from imperfect cocoons
D. Same silk as C after carding E. Skeins of silk spun from same

squeezed, rinsed in a slightly soapy bath, and put into
bags of hemp or flax.

2. Boiling. The yarn is boiled for one-half hour in
a 10 per cent soap solution, and is then washed well in
clear water. This removes the last traces of gum.

3. Bleaching. If the silk is to be white or light in

IO4 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

color the natural coloring matter present in the fibroin
must be removed. Treatment in a dilute bath of hydro-
chloric or nitric acid for about fifteen minutes, then a
thorough washing and rinsing, are followed by expo-
sure to sulphur fumes. This destroys the coloring mat-
ter, but leaves the silk harsh and rough. It must be
softened by immersion in a cream of tartar solution for
an hour and a half.

Silk is sometimes bleached in a solution of hydro-
gen peroxide or sodium peroxide. This method is more
expensive than the former.

Souple silk is scoured in a bath at a lower tempera-
ture and containing less soap than that used for boiled-
off silk. Only part of the gum is removed, but the fiber
swells and becomes more absorbent.

Ecru silk has the coloring matter removed, but
little of the gum. The process for this is much bleach-
ing but little washing. The method used by the manu-
facturer to make up for the loss of weight resulting
from the removal of the silk gum will be discussed later.

Weaving and Finishing. Silk weaving does not
differ essentially from any other weaving. Because of
the extreme fineness of the thread the loom is more dif-
ficult to set up, and must be run rather more slowly.
A great variety of effects may be produced by vari-
ations of weaves. Damask, satin, velvet, different
crepes and brocades depend on the weave for their
character. The Jacquard loom again offers almost end-
less possibilities, and the designer is ever at work to
produce some new effect which will appeal to the pub-
lic eye.

SILK 105

The finishing processes for silk differ from those used
with other materials. Little washing or scrubbing is nec-
essary, and most silks are finished almost entirely in a
dry state. Washing is necessary with some silks, but
those which have been heavily weighted in the yarn are
not washed. Singeing in a gas flame, or shearing with
a machine arranged on the same principle as the lawn
mower, removes the fuzzy ends which would diminish
the luster. Sizing may be sprayed upon the surface of
the cloth, after which it is passed through heated cylin-
ders to dry and to press out wrinkles. For certain sur-
faces the silk is pressed between layers of finishing
paper ; then, to take away the papery feeling, is passed
between wooden rollers in which buttons are driven.
Singeing and brushing, and a final tentering or stretch-
ing on rows of hooks to give the desired width, prepare
the cloth for folding, measuring, and making into bolts
for the market.

The finishing processes differ greatly for different
varieties of goods. Silk may be dyed or printed before
or after weaving, a moire effect may be produced by
embossing the cloth with heavy engraved rollers, velvets
must have the pile steamed, panne velvets have a spe-
cial method of pressing, and many other processes give
a great variety of results.

Waste or Spun Silk. Besides the best quality of cul-
tivated silk and the wild silks, there is an inferior grade
of yarn known as spun silk. In the process of silk cul-
ture it is necessary that a number of moths emerge from
the cocoon to provide eggs for the next lot of worms.
As has been stated, the cocoon is injured by the exit of

IO6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the moth, and cannot be used for reeled silk. In the
process of reeling there is also much waste, such as the
outsides of cocoons, which must be removed before
the thread for reeling has been reached, defective cocoons,
and the last inner layer, which cannot be successfully
reeled.

Although the fibers from these forms of waste silk
cannot be reeled in one continuous thread, they are, nev-
ertheless, valuable and are not wasted. They are given
quite a different treatment, however, from the perfect
fibers. First, the gum is removed by thorough washing;
then the tangled mass of short fibers is carded, as cotton
or wool would be carded, then drawn out and spun into
a thread. The resulting yarn, to distinguish it from
reeled silk, is called spun silk.

Spun silk is usually not so strong as reeled silk, and
is not so lustrous because of the many ends of silk pro-
jecting from the surface of the yarn and because of
its harder twist. Frequently the two kinds of silk are
combined in a material, the spun silk being used for the
warp and the reeled silk for the filling.

Poorer grades of this silk, too short or too weak to
be spun, are made into hat braids or a poor quality of
dress trimmings.

Silk Substitutes. Because of the high cost and
beauty of silk there have been many attempts to find
substitutes for it. Efforts have been made to spin the'
spider's web and to use the filaments spun by other
moths, but so far these have been unsuccessful. A single
exception is the byssus of the shellfish, Pinna. This
byssus is a tassel-like appendage by which the mussel

SILK -JO/

attaches itself to the rocks, and it may be combed out and
spun into a thread which is used sometimes for gloves,
purses, and other small articles. The natural color of
this silk is olive green or brown.

Chemists have experimented for years to find a sub-
stitute for silk, and have produced several artificial silks
from different substances. The most successful of these
is Chardonnet silk, so called from the man who succeeded

FIG. 29. — ARTIFICIAL SILK

in producing it. This silk is made from cellulose steeped
in concentrated sulphuric and nitric acid and dissolved in
a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and ether. This solu-
tion, collodion, is then forced through very fine capillary
tubes, from which it comes in threads, which coagulate
in the air. As this cellulose is highly explosive it must
be denitrated before being spun into yarn.

Chardonnet silk has a high luster, considerable ten-
sile strength, and, although yellowish in color, may be
bleached with chloride of lime and dyed readily. The
greatest objection to the use of it is that it does not
withstand the action of water well. It is used, however,

IO8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

for braids, neckties, and for fancy articles which need
not come in contact with water. In making beautiful
tapestries in a studio in New York, artificial silk has
been found satisfactory, as resistance to water is not
essential in this sort of material.

Other varieties of artificial silk have been made from
solutions of cellulose in ammoniacal copper oxide, or
chloride of zinc, and from filaments of gelatin treated
with formaldehyde. The Chardonnet and other silks
made by practically the same method are, however, most
satisfactory, and have partially met an ever-increasing
demand.

Thus it is that in the past two or three generations
many processes have been discovered whereby the cost
of silk has been decreased and the supply increased, or,
rather, the supply has been made to go much farther.
The unfortunate part of the change is that the wear-
ing qualities of silk have been greatly decreased, but
since the public demands quantity and variety at small
cost it obtains that which it demands.

REFERENCES
Barker, A. F. Textiles.
Hurst, G. H. Dyeing and Printing of Silk.
Matthews, J. M. Textile Fibres.

Posselt, E. A. Wool, Cotton, Silk, from Fibre to Fin-
ished Fabric.
Silk. Pamphlet. Nonotuck Silk Company.

CHAPTER VII
LINEN

LINEN or flax is the fiber obtained from the layer of
bast cells just inside the outer bark of the plant
Linum usitatissimum, or flax. The fiber is firmly at-
tached to the woody tissue in which it lies, and it is nec-
essary to break off the outer bark and to destroy the
woody tissue in order to obtain it pure.

History. Although flax is more difficult to obtain
from the plant than cotton, once separated from the
stem the fibers are much more easily spun by hand
methods, and it was probably the first vegetable fiber
used for spinning. Just when or where linen was first
used we cannot tell, but historians seem to agree that
Egypt probably first discovered the value of this ma-
terial. Flax is indigenous to the Nile Valley, and the
earliest picture writings of Egypt show the linen in-
dustry in quite a high state of development. The Bible
(Genesis 41: 42) tells us that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph
in vestures of fine linen, and more than once mentions
flax in Egypt. This was about 1715 B.C. These refer-
ences are to "fine linen," which shows that the indus-
try must have been carried on for a long time, since
coarse linens would be the first produced.

Mummy cloths, four thousand years old, show linen
quite fine in quality. Probably very little clothing of any
other material was used in Egypt until after the Christian

109

HO HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

era. For hundreds of years the Phoenicians carried linen
cloth from the Nile valley to all parts of the ancient
western country. It was frequently taken to Tyre to
be dyed and then traded. Purple and fine linen were"
symbols of royalty in the time of Solomon, and, be-
cause of 'its cleanliness, linen was and still is used in
connection with all religious rites.

From Egypt linen culture spread to Babylon, to
Greece, and to Rome. Great encouragement was given
to it in Italy, and guilds were later formed to regulate
and protect the linen trade. The Moors kept up the in-
dustry in Spain, and from the seventh century France
and Germany were producing their own flax. Great
Britain and Ireland may have borrowed the industry
from the Romans. All over Europe during the Middle
Ages, and until the invention of power spinning, linen
was used almost entirely where we use cotton today.
Although, since the industrial revolution, cotton has re-%
placed linen for many purposes, because of the strength,
luster, smoothness, snowy whiteness, and characteristic
leathery texture of linen, cotton can never be as valu-
able, or replace it for table service and many other uses.

At the present time the linen industry flourishes,
although it is not to be compared with the cotton in-
dustry. Large amounts of flax are grown in Ireland,
Belgium, Holland, Germany, Russia, France, and in
parts of the United States and Canada.

Physical and Chemical Structure and Character-
istics. Good flax fiber, when separated from the stalk,
should be from twelve to twenty inches in length, and
will vary greatly in fineness. It is very strong, but has

LINEN III

little elasticity. Under the microscope the fiber appears
straight, with longitudinal markings and, at intervals,
cross markings or nodes which look almost like breaks
in the fiber, and which assist somewhat in spinning, since
they tend to hold the fibers together. In cross section
the fiber is polygonal and has a small central canal.
The fiber is composed of cells consisting of almost pure
cellulose, held together by a vegetable gum or pectin,
which also gives it color. This structure makes it very
different from cotton, which is a single cell. The color
varies from yellowish-white to brown and from pearl to
steel gray, the best quality of flax being pale yellowish-
white. The variation in color is due quite largely to dif-
ferences in the processes of retting.

Luster is one of the most prized assets of linen and is
retained as long as the fiber lasts. It may be affected
by retting, as may the strength of the fiber.
i Linen does not absorb a great amount of water into
the fiber, 6 to 8 per cent being an average amount, al-
though it may reach 20 per cent; neither has it a great
affinity for dyestuffs or metallic salts. A certain amount
of vegetable oil is present and aids in the spinning proc-
esses. Probably the failure of some chemical methods
of retting is due to the fact that too much oil has been
removed from the fiber. Bleaching removes this oil
and also some of the vegetable waxes and gums pres-
ent ; therefore unbleached linen is usually stronger than
bleached.

Again, because of this combination of cells, linen may
not be bleached rapidly, as cotton is, by the action of hot
alkalies. The fiber is disintegrated by these. Acids do

112 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

not act so rapidly on linen as on cotton, since the gums
protect the cellulose and make the action slower.

The affinity for dyestuffs is not so great in linen as
in cotton, again probably due to the resins uniting the
cells of the fiber. Otherwise, being almost pure cellu-
lose, it is chemically similar to cotton, especially after
being bleached.

Linen is a better conductor of heat than cotton ;
therefore it feels cool to the touch.

Cultivation. Flax culture must be divided into two
branches, culture for fiber and culture for seed. In the
United States flax is raised almost entirely for the seed.
Linen is woven to a certain extent in this country, but
the raw material is imported and the manufacture is
limited almost entirely to thread, twine, and coarse
materials. Very recently a new branch of flax manu-
facture has been attempted, in which the broken straw,
left after the removal of the seed, may be converted into
yarn and woven.1 Up to this time all straw left after
the removal of the seed has been a waste product.

The flax plant requires a temperate climate, but grows
in varied soils. It cannot, however, be grown for many
years in succession on the same soil, but must be rotated
with other crops. The best grades of flax for fiber are
produced on fertile soils, -in districts where the temper-
ature is even, moist, and not too high, as in parts of
Russia, the Low Countries, and Ireland. The tempera-
ture lines of this area would include Wisconsin, North
Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and parts of Michigan, the
states in which flax is grown for seed.

1 Described more fully on p. 120.

LINEN 113

Flaxseed must be sown in early spring in land which
is rather heavy and well drained. It requires a rich soil,
not because it takes more from the soil than other crops,
but because, if it is to be used for fiber, it must take
it quickly. The ground must be well prepared, finely
broken up, the seed sown broadcast, and is best raked
in by hand. When the plants are two to three inches
high they must be weeded very carefully by hand. When
they are nearly grown a stalk of blue flower appears,
followed by the flaxseed. Before the seed is entirely
ripe, and when the stalk of the plant has turned yellow
about two-thirds of the way down, the flax is harvested.
In most countries the harvesting time is July. The plant
should be about three feet high when pulled, and must
be pulled in clear, dry weather. If flax were cut as other
grains are, part of the available fiber would be lost.

Separation of the Fiber. The process of separating
flax fibers from the rest of the plant is a long and tedi-
ous one. The seeds and leaves are removed from the
stems by a process known as rippling, the ends of the
stalks being put between rollers which crush off the
seeds and leaves. Next, the stems are tied in bundles
and put through a process of fermentation, which loos-
ens the bast fibers from the woody portion by decom-
posing the resins which unite them. This process,
known as retting, may be accomplished in a number of
ways. Dew retting consists in spreading the fibers on
the grass and leaving them exposed to the action of
dews and sun for about two weeks. This method is
practiced in parts of Russia and yields a silky fiber, but
it is a question if the result would not be just as 'good

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

if the same flax were retted in another way. A more
common method is to put the bundles of flax into pools

FIG. 30. — FLAX

C. Flax scutched

A. Michigan Flax, seeds removed B. Flax retted.

D. Flax hackled E. Flax drawn

The dark color of B and D is due to chemical retting

of stagnant water and allow them to remain for several
days? Since gas is evolved in the process of fermenta-

LINEN 115

tion, the bundles must be weighted down to keep them
under water. Soft water gives better results than hard.
A third method is that of soaking the flax in streams
of running water. The famous Courtrai flax of Belgium
is retted in this manner in the slow-running waters
of the River Lys. Its creamy color is due probably to
the soft, slow-running water, which has a peculiar
ferment.

As a rule, running water gives a whiter flax than pool
retting, because the water does not become so polluted.
Dew retting does not produce such uniform results.
Many attempts have been made to shorten the process
of retting, the most successful being those in which
tanks are used and the water is heated. This water may
be changing or not. In this way flax has been retted
in fifty or sixty hours. Retting, by whatever method,
must be stopped at the right time or the fiber will be
weakened and discolored. Certain chemicals added to
the water hasten the process, but while they aid the de-
struction of the resins binding the fibers, they weaken
the fiber and injure the color, thus detracting greatly
from the value of the product.

Upon removal from the retting, the bundles of flax
straw are set up in fields to dry, after which they are
ready for the mechanical part of the separating process.
The woody portion is now thoroughly rotten and may
be crushed in the flax brake. The old brake consisted, of
a row of heavy slats, held firmly at each end. The
straw was laid across these, and another set of slats,
hinged to the first at one end and weighted at the other,
was dropped down on the flax, breaking the woody tis-

Il6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

sues. At the present time the same result is obtained
by the use of fluted rollers run by machinery.

Scutching is the first rough process to remove the
broken woody portion of the stalk. Originally a wooden
block and a wooden knife were the crude implements
used for this process. The flax was placed over the
block and the knife struck off the woody part. A modi-
fication of this is the modern scutching machine, in
which several wooden knives are mounted in a wheel
and strike, as the wheel revolves, against a wooden block
across which the flax is laid.

Hackling is a combing process and further frees the
fiber from the woody particles. When done by hand
the hackler* holds a bundle of fibers in his hand and
throws ./me free end over a set of upright teeth, drawing
it carefully through. The short fibers, or tow, are sepa-
rated out by this process, the long fibers, or line, re-
maining in the hackler's hand. Several sets of combs
must be used, as the process must not only remove the
tow, but must separate the flax into finer filaments and
leave the line in untangled hanks. The tow remains in
the comb and must be removed from time to time. It
is used for coarse grades of yarn. The machine
process differs only in the fact that metal needles, set
in blocks of wood on a revolving apron, and wheels
with teeth do the work of the hackler and his comb.
Hand hackling usually supplements the machine work,
especially for the better grades of flax.
V Drawing and Spinning. Drawing, the next process,
r consists in pulling the hackled fibers out into a rope,
which may then be drawn out finer and given a slight

LINEN

117

twist, producing roving. Finally this roving is spun
into yarn. Flax spinning is much more satisfactory if
done in a moist atmosphere ; in fact, the finer qualities
can be spun only when wet. The hand spinner of
former days kept a bowl of water at hand, in which
she moistened her fingers as she spun. Yarn for warp

FIG. 31. — A. YARN WINDER B. FLAX HATCHEL
C. QUILLING WHEEL FOR FILLING SPOOLS

must be harder twisted than that for weft. The warp
yarn is also given a light sizing to hold the thread to-
gether in weaving.

Weaving and Finishing. Weaving linen is rather
more difficult than weaving cotton, because the fiber is
not as elastic and when there is a sudden strain breaks
instead of stretching as cotton does. For a long time
fine damask was woven on hand looms, but these have

Il8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

been almost entirely replaced by power looms. Some
of the coarser linens, such as Russian crashes and other
imported linens, are woven on hand looms by peasants
in different countries. Linen bleaching will be more
fully described later. If it be done most carefully it re-
quires a combination of many washings, treatments with
bleaching powder, rinsings, grass bleachings — processes
requiring not only weeks of time, but proper fields upon
which the cloth may be spread and favorable weather
to do the grassing.

Finishing linen cloth increases the luster, adds sizing,
and sometimes produces flat threads. Heavy pressing,
calendering, and mangling after the addition of sizing
materials give a good finish to the cloth and make it
possible to handle the linen in the store without destroy-
ing its finished appearance. Beetling is a process of
putting the cloth through a machine which beats the
threads flat. Heavy clubs fall upon the surface of the
cloth, making it closer in weave, increasing the luster,
and giving the leathery feel so characteristic of good
damask.

Sizing, when added in excess, makes a poor grade of
cloth look well, and adds weight to any cloth. This
may also make the material stiff, but after washing, this
heavily sized material often disappoints the buyer.

Brown finishing is finishing the cloth without bleach-
ing, and many of the most attractive linens on the mar-
ket are those which are left' in the natural colors of tan,
brown, or gray. These unbleached linens usually wear
better than the bleached, because the fiber has not been
weakened by the chemical action of bleaching agents.

LINEN 119

Proper methods detract little from' the strength of the
fiber, but in modern processes the wearing quality of the
material is frequently not considered so much as the
rapidity and cheapness with which the bleaching may
be done.

Linen Fabrics. The difficulty with which linen is
dyed limits somewhat the variety of materials which are
made from it; yet there are many different effects pro-
duced by varying the weave, the size of yarn, the tex-
ture, and the degree of bleaching. Half-bleached, three-
fourths bleached, and full-bleached cloth of different
qualities may be purchased. Linens, from the finest, most
delicate lawns to the coarsest crashes, are attractive for
many purposes. Its rapid absorption of water makes
linen the best material for towels, and its hard, smooth,
lustrous surface leaves it unsurpassed for table use,
while the fact that it is a splendid conductor of heat
makes it a cool garment for summer wear.

The character of Hnen makes it wrinkle easily in
dress material, but that same character causes it to lie
smoothly on a table. Because of its resistance to color-
ing matter it does not stain easily, and the long fibers
present few ends in the thread to become fuzzy like
cotton. For these various reasons linen is a much valued
fiber and commands a high price.

That this high price is legitimate may readily be
understood if one considers the great amount of hand
work necessary in the different stages of flax produc-
tion. The culture, harvesting, rippling, retting, and
bleaching all require hand labor, while in the preparation
for spinning, and in the spinning itself, much less change

I2O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

has been wrought by modern invention than in the man-
ufacture of any other yarn. The price of hand labor
in this country is almost prohibitive to the linen indus-
try, and the climate is not well suited to grass bleaching.
The high duty imposed by our tariff on imported linens
keeps up the price.

The recent efforts to separate the fiber from some of
the thousands of tons of broken flax straw, left after
the threshing which separates the flax seeds, is a
worthy measure for conservation. As has been said
before, for the best quality of linen the flax must be
pulled before the seeds are ripe; consequently the fiber
from the crop grown for seed must be inferior to that
grown for fiber. Again, the machine-threshing process
leaves the stalks much broken, and the fiber obtained
from it is short. Finally, the chemical retting process
used will probably make the fiber weaker, so that the
finest grades of linen will not be produced by this method.
Up to the present time these manufacturers have pro-
duced only medium grade towels, underwear, surgeon's
lint, etc. The writer has used some very fair towels made
in this way.

Union goods of linen and cotton are excellent for
some purposes; a linen and cotton towel is, no doubt,
better than one of cotton alone, but not so desirable as
a pure linen towel. It is doubtful if a mixed linen and
cotton tablecloth is any better than a pure cotton one.
Mercerized cotton is sometimes sold for linen, but, while
a very good material in itself, it has not the character-
istics which make linen so valuable. Excessive amounts
of starch may give a firm appearance to poor linen.

LINEN 121

Linen may be considered with silk a fiber of luxury,
although to the housewife it seems indispensable for
cc tain uses.

REFERENCES

Barker, A. F. Textiles.

Flax Culture for Seed and Fibre. United States De-
partment of Agriculture, Office of Fibre Investiga-
tion. Report 10.

Matthews, J. M. Textile Fibres.

Zipser. Textile Raw Materials and their Conversion
into Yarns.

CHAPTER VIII
BLEACHING AND DYEING

WITHIN the last sixty years the processes of
bleaching and dyeing have changed from rule of
thumb methods, handed down from generation to gen-
eration, and carried on most successfully by those who
inherited the skill from their forefathers, to a most sci-
entific method, requiring for best results the skill of
the textile chemist. The workman who mixes the dyes
and watches the machine is not necessarily as intelligent
as the Oriental dyer in his native mountains, but the
dyestuffs are not gathered from nature by the man who
mixes them, and he is not even intrusted with the
matching of shades.

The processes of bleaching and dyeing differ for the
different textile fibers. The vegetable fibers have similar
chemical reactions, and the animal fibers are somewhat
alike in their chemical characteristics, yet each fiber
must be treated in the way best suited to its individual
needs. So many and such complicated reactions are in-
volved in these processes that only a general statement
of methods and principles will be given here. Since
the chemical and physical structure and characteristics
determine the treatment of the fibers in bleaching and
dyeing, these may be briefly reviewed.

Cotton and Linen. Cotton consists of cellulose 87
per cent, water 8 per cent, and the remaining 5 per cent

122

BLEACHING AND DYEING 123

vegetable wax, oil, albuminous matter, pectic acid, and
coloring matter. The object of bleaching cotton is to
remove this 5 per cent impurity, so that the fiber may
be white or that it may absorb dyes readily ; the oil and
wax prevent this ready absorption.

Cotton is a single cell, hollow in the center, a col-
lapsed tube.

Linen is not so largely pure cellulose, having about*
15 to 30 per cent of foreign substance, besides 6 to 8
per cent water. The foreign matter is mostly pectic
in nature and is difficult to remove. The linen fiber
also differs in being composed of many cells held to-
gether by a gummy substance which may be dissolved
by chemicals, making it more easily disintegrated than
cotton.

In general, the treatment of cotton and linen in dye-
ing and bleaching is the same. Acids weaken or destroy
the fibers, while alkalies, except in special cases, have
little effect on them. Mercerized cotton has a greater
affinity for dyestuff than ordinary cotton, and linen is
more difficult to dye than cotton. Cellulose has very
weak acid and basic properties, so weak that it does not
combine directly with most dyes. Cotton has a very
slight affinity for metallic salts.

Wool and Silk. Wool, being an animal fiber, is a
nitrogenous compound. Much foreign matter is present
in raw wool ; in some cases less than 30 per cent of the
weight of wool is fiber, 14 per cent is water, and the rest
impurity. Most of this foreign matter is, however, re-
moved before the fiber reaches the bleaching process.

Raw silk is composed of two substances. The fiber,

124 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

fibroin, is a nitrogenous compound ; sericine, the gummy
substance surrounding the fiber, is soluble in warm,
soapy water and is removed in the cleaning process.
About 73 per cent of silk is fibroin, 25 per cent sericine,
and 12 per cent water.

The chemical actions of wool and silk are practically
opposite to those of cotton and linen. Wool disinte-
grates readily in warm, rather dilute alkali ; silk is not
so readily affected. Acids, even when fairly concentrated,
have very little effect on wool, but injure silk more
readily. Both wool and silk have great affinity for
metallic salts. The action of wool towards bleaching
powder in cold and dilute solutions is one of chemical
combination; the product, "chlored" or "chlorinated,"
wool, has a high luster, loses its felting property, and
has an increased affinity for dyes. The absorption of
metallic salts by silk gives the process of weighting al-
ready mentioned.

Wool sometimes acts as an acid, sometimes as a
base, therefore combines readily with different classes
of dyestuffs.

Fibers are made weak, or tendered, by certain chem-
icals. In the case of vegetable fibers, dilute acids and
strong alkalies in the presence of air have this effect.
Animal fibers are weakened by caustic alkalies, alkaline
carbonates in boiling solutions, and concentrated min-
eral acids.

Absorption of Dyes. Owing to its physical struc-
ture, the single cell of cotton, with its central canal,
doubtless absorbs dyes by capillary action. This, how-
ever, is probably largely due to pores which run from

BLEACHING AND DYEING 125

the surface inward. Mercerized cotton, in which the
central canal has almost entirely disappeared, has a
greater affinity for dyes than ordinary cotton. Linen
in the unbleached state has the cells of the fibers sur-
rounded by a pectic substance that retains its natural
coloring matter and resists dyes, and this is true to a
certain extent of bleached linen.

The structureless silk fiber readily absorbs dyestuffs.
So great is the affinity of this fiber for some classes of
dyes that it is necessary to add the dyestuffs in several
small amounts to prevent uneven absorption. The cen-
tral or cortical layer of cells of the wool fiber takes up
the dyestuff, while the outer, scaly layer does not dye so
readily. This explains the depth of color obtained when
looking into a pile material, where the cross section of
the thread appears darker than the surface.

Operations Preliminary to Dyeing. When the fibers
come into the hands of the dyer, either in the form
of raw fiber, -yarn, or cloth, they are in a more or less
impure condition ; besides the natural impurities there
are present oil and dirt from the machinery and sizing
in the cloth.

If the fiber is to be put upon the market pure white
the process of bleaching is about the same, as that for
cloth to be dyed light colors ; therefore only one process
will be described here.

Three general operations must be gone through in
this process :

i. The material must be thoroughly wet, so that
every portion will be uniformly penetrated by mordant
or dye, and not be protected from contact with it by
bubbles of air, etc

126 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

2. All impurities, such as vegetable or animal oils,
which would prevent the fiber from taking up the mor-
dant or dye, must be thoroughly removed.

3. The natural coloring matters, when they would
interfere with the brilliancy of color to be produced,
must be removed.

Cotton Bleaching. The process for cotton, bleached
more commonly in the yarn or cloth state, consists of
the following operations:

1. Boiling out. A scouring operation to remove all
waxy and resinous matters in fiber.1

2. Treatment with bleaching powder solution to de-
stroy natural coloring matter, and also to break down
various non-cellulosic matters associated with the cellu-
lose of the cotton.

3. Treatment with a dilute solution of acid called
"souring," to dissolve lime compounds left in fiber
from bleaching powder and to decompose any chlorine
compounds which may have been formed.

4. Washing. For the purpose of removing all solu-
ble matters resulting from the action of the bleaching
powder and acid ; also for the removal of the acid from
the fiber.

5. Soaping and tinting, for cloth to be left white,
neutralizes the last trace of acid, softens the cotton, and
gives a slightly bluish tone to the white.

Various methods are used for carrying out these
processes, and also different chemicals.

Lime preceded by resin soap was formerly used for

1 Matthews. Laboratory Manual of Dyeing and Textile Chem-
istry, p. 45.

BLEACHING .AND DYEING I2/

boiling out. In the madder bleach seven operations, viz. :
i, wetting; 2, boiling with lime water; 3, rinsing;
4, treating with acid; 5, rinsing; 6, boiling with soap
and alkali ; 7, rinsing, were carried out before treat-
ment with bleaching powder ; then followed the treatment
with acid and the final rinsing.

Caustic soda is now commonly used for boiling out.

Bleaching powder, or chloride of lime, has the chem-
ical formula CaOCL. It is a yellowish-white powder,
partly soluble, used in a cold bath. Care must be taken
that no undissolved particles are allowed in the bath,
and that the cloth is entirely immersed, as the combined
action of bleaching powder and air weakens the material.

Souring is usually done in a cold bath of very weak
sulphuric acid, so that the cotton may not be made
tender. Hydrochloric acid seems for several reasons to
be better suited than sulphuric acid.

Soaping and tinting are done with dilute lukewarm
solution of soap and a small quantity of blue dyestuff,
as Prussian blue.

Recently hydrogen peroxide has come into use as a
cotton bleach. Although expensive, it does not weaken
the fiber and is used for some high grade cottons.

Linen Bleaching may be done in the same general
manner as cotton, but the fiber is much weakened by the
process. The pectic acid, or gum which glues the cells
of the fiber together, is partially dissolved.

The old method of bleaching linen included bleach-
ing both in the yarn and in the cloth. Mrs. Alice Morse
Earle, in "Home Life in Colonial Days," says some forty
processes of wetting, washing, bleaching with acids.

128 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

rinsing, soaking, bleaching on the grass, etc., were gvme
through with before the linen was pure white. These
processes required many weeks.

The modern linen bleach is usually as follows for
half bleach: first, the linen is boiled in sodium carbon-
ate or in soda ash ; then treated with bleaching powder,
then with dilute sulphuric acid. After each of these
operations it is thoroughly washed and the processes re-
peated ; then if three- fourths bleach is required the cloth
is spread on the grass and the sun and air do their
work. For a full bleach, or pure white, the processes
are repeated two- or three times.

Linen loses from 25 to 30 per cent in bleaching, and
becomes weaker as it becomes whiter. This weaken-
ing is more marked with chemical bleaching than with
the old grass bleach methods, and this accounts in part
for the great difference in wearing quality between the
old homespuns and the modern machine-made linens.

Wool Bleaching. The operations preparatory to
bleaching wool really begin when it first comes to the
mill with the wool scouring, for here it is that the large
per cent of dirt, perspiration, and oil is removed from
the fiber. Later, when the yarn or the cloth is to be
bleached, it is again washed in soap solution, and
stretched to prevent tangling. Final bleaching is accom-
plished by hanging it, thoroughly moist, in brick cham-
bers, into which the fumes of burning sulphur or
sulphurous acid are brought. This operation requires
from ten to twenty hours. The sulphuric acid formed
must be thoroughly washed out of the wool when the
bleaching process is completed.

BLEACHING AND DYKING 129

Peroxides are becoming widely used as bleaching
agents for wool. Hydrogen peroxide has been used,
but the expense is almost prohibitive. Sodium peroxide
is much less expensive, but must be handled with care,
as when moist it is quite explosive.

Silk Bleaching. Silk bleaching differs somewhat
from that of wool in that a large part of the coloring
matter is present in the soluble gum which constitutes
about 30 percent of the fiber.

This gum may be entirely removed, as in boilecl-off
silk, where the material is boiled for an hour in a 25
to 35 per cent soap solution, rinsed, then boiled again
from one-half hour to three hours in a 10 to 15 per
cent soda solution. Souple silk has about one-sixth of
the gum removed, and in this case the first soap solu-
tion has a strength of only about 3 or 4 per cent and
the second bath consists of a weak solution of soda
crystals. In each of these classes of silks the boiling
is followed by a bleaching process, in which either
the sulphur bleach or the hydrogen peroxide bleach is
used.

Another class of silk, called "ecru," has but one-
twelfth of the gum removed by scouring, and has no
bleaching process.

Smoothing by the use of a 4 per cent cream of tar-
tar solution softens the silk after these processes.

Since the cost of silk is greater than the cost of
wool, it is more consistent to use the peroxide bleaches
for it than for wool.

Silk that has a rustle has been treated with a weak
acid, usually acetic or tartaric, which gives it this prop-

130 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILKS

erty known as scroop. The acid is not washed off, but
is allowed to dry on the silk.

Dyeing. The object of the dyer is to produce on a
given material any desired color, with a certain standard
of fastness. The demand may be for fastness to light ;
it may be for fastness to washing or, better, for fastness
to both light and washing. The manufacturer must also
consider the cost of the dyestuffs and of the process
necessary to set the dye on the fiber. Here is one great
cause of our many fugitive colors, for too often the
finished material must be cheap.

There are two distinct types of dyestuffs: the natural
dyes and the artificial — the aniline, or coal-tar dyes ; the
first class as old as the hills, and the second compara-
tively new. The Tyrian purple so highly prized in an-
cient days and used as a sign of royalty was obtained a
drop at a time from a shellfish found on the shores of
Tyre. The Egyptians early used gorgeous colors, ob-
tained from plant and mineral sources, dyeing being a
well-developed art even then.

The Oriental peoples, most famous for their beauti-
ful rugs, guard sacredly the secrets of their dyes, which
have been handed down and improved by generation
after generation, until they are surpassed in beauty by
no others. The famous tapestries of the Middle Ages
and of more modern times have been colored with these
dyes taken directly from nature and brewed by the
skilled dyester, while the simple materials woven by our
grandmothers were dyed with bark of walnut, leaf of
sumac, or root of indigo.

Aniline Dyes. All this has been changed as a re-

BLEACHING AND DYEING 13!

suit of the marvelous discovery made by the chemist,
Perkin, in the year 1856. While experimenting in his
laboratory with aniline from coal tar he found the dye
substance mauveine. This discovery, followed by many
others, in time completely revolutionized the dyeing in-
dustry. There are at present hundreds of dyestuffs
made from coal-tar products, which produce an enor-
mous variety of shades, hues, and pure colors. The
manufacturers of these dyes employ constantly an army
of chemists to discover new dyes and to perfect the
method of using those already known.

Considerable has been written in criticism of aniline
dyes, and much of this criticism is just. The chief dif-
ficulty is that these dyes are so much purer than the
natural dyes that the resulting colors are crude and hard.
Also, many of the colors are fugitive and fade to ugly
tones. When properly used, however, beautiful and fast
colors may be obtained with greater certainty and much
more cheaply than with the vegetable dyes.

Vegetable Dyes are still used to a certain extent by
craft workers and by those who dye on a small scale. For
commercial purposes, however, with the exception of
logwood and indigo, natural dyes have almost entirely
disappeared, and these two are rapidly being replaced
by chemically prepared dyes. Cochineal, the coloring
matter extracted from the bodies of the female of a
small bug which grows on cactus plants, is still used to
color the red coat of the British soldier.

Primitive peoples still use the natural dyes. When
they use yarns dyed with aniline dyes, as some of our
Western Indians have done of late years, their products

132 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

are anything but artistic, since they do not know how
to handle these colors.

It is a capital offence to carry aniline dyes into
Persia ; in this way the law has protected the beauty
of the Persian rug.

Household Dyes. Aniline dyes especially prepared
in small packages for vegetable or for animal fibers are
known to the housekeeper. Those dyes are chosen which
will produce the best results in unskilled hands, and are
combined with the chemicals necessary to produce this
result. The dyer needs to add only common salt or
vinegar as an assistant.

Mordant. Certain dyestuffs produce a fast color on
a fiber, while others require the action of some chemical
to bind the dyestuff to the fiber. The chemical which
is used to combine with and fix a dye upon a fiber is
called a mordant. A dye which requires a mordant for
one fiber may not require it for another. In general,
vegetable fibers require mordants more often than do
animal fibers.

The theories of dyeing are not entirely established
yet, some authorities holding that there is a chemical
reaction between the fiber and the dyestuff by which a
compound called a lake is produced. Others hold that
the process is merely a mechanical one, and that the
color particles are deposited on the fiber. Both theories
have evidence in their favor. A third theory is that the
fiber is capable of dissolving the dyestuffs and produc-
ing a solid solution. Whichever theory is the true one,
conditions of heat, amount of liquid, and elements in
the dyebath greatly affect the result produced.

BLEACHING AND DYEING 133

Use of Mordants. It has been said that a mordant
is a chemical substance which combines with the dye to
produce a fixed color on a fiber. Certain metallic salts
have this power. They are absorbed by the fiber, and
then mordant and dye combine to form an insoluble
color lake. Vegetable fibers, however, do not have the
power of absorbing these metallic salts to any great ex-
tent, but do combine with tannic acid. The tannic acid
may then combine with a mordant, and finally the dye-
stuff is brought into combination. In some cases the
mordant is applied to the fiber first, then the dye added,
or the mordant and dye may both be put into the same
bath. Common mordants are salts of aluminum, chro-
mium, iron, and tin. In the old methods of dyeing, alum
and chrome were common mordants. Tannic acid was
obtained from gallnuts or sumac.

Assistants. Glauber salt, common salt, acids, or
alkalies are used with different dyestuffs to hasten or
delay the process or to regulate the distribution of the
dyestuff, according to the properties of the dye or of the
fiber.

After-Treatment. Certain colors are produced on
fibers by after-treatment with various agents. The color
may be merely a deeper tone of that originally produced
by the dye, or it may be a different color. The object
in producing colors in this manner is to gain fastness. .

Classification. Dyes are usually classified into four
groups, according to their general properties.1

"a. Acid dyes.

1 Matthews. Laboratory Manual of Dyeing and Textile Chem-
istry, p. 58.

134 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

"b. Basic dyes.

"c. Substantive dyes.

"d. Mordant dyes.

''This classification in a general way is based on the
chemical nature of the dyestuff and its reaction towards
the fiber. The following is a brief summary of these
properties :

"a. Acid dyes. Salts of color-acids; dye animal
fibers directly; do not dye vegetable fibers; mostly ap-
plied to wool and silk.

"b. Basic dyes. Salts of color-bases; dye animal
fibers directly ; dye vegetable fibers on a tannin mordant ;
mostly applied to cotton and silk.

"c. Substantive dyes. Of neutral chemical nature;
dye both animal and vegetable fibers directly ; mostly
applied to cotton and somewhat to both wool and silk.

"d. Mordant dyes. Of neutral chemical nature;
dye neither animal nor vegetable fibers directly, but re-
quire a metallic mordant; mostly applied to wool."

Some other dyes not included in these groups are the
mineral pigment dyes, as Prussian blue, vat dyes, such
as indigo, and sulphur dyes.

Acid Dyes. The acid dyes are cheap, and are most
commonly used for wool. The dye is dissolved in an
acid bath, with considerable Glauber salt. The cloth is
put in at a low temperature and the water gradually
heated. With an alum mordant on cotton the acid dyes
give colors fast to light but not to washing.

Basic Dyes are much used for silk, since this fiber
has a great affinity for them, and the colors produced
have much depth and brilliancy. An after-treatment with

BLEACHING AND DYEING 135

tannic acid and tartar emetic increases the fastness to
washing.

Basic colors are not used as much for wool as for-
merly since acid dyes give better results. With cotton
the cloth is first mordanted with tannic acid, then with
salts of antimony or iron, and finally dyed.

Hard water may not be used with the basic dyes, as
the colof is precipitated and dye spots result.

Direct Cotton Colors, or substantive colors, may be
used for either animal or vegetable fibers, and for this
reason are largely used for union goods. Their worst
fault is a lack of fastness to light and washing, a dif-
ficulty which may be lessened by an after-treatment of
the material. This after-treatment usually consists in
developing on the fiber by some chemical treatment an
insoluble dyestuff from the more or less soluble dye
already present.

Mordant Dyes are dyes which cannot be used on
any fiber without a mordant. Madder, logwood, alizarin
(Turkey red), are common examples of these dyes.
Many of the old natural dyes belonged to this class.
They are usually rather fast colors and are more difficult
to dye.

Vat Dyes. Indigo is an interesting example of vat
dyes. These dyes are in an insoluble form, and must be
reduced to a soluble form before they can be applied to
the material. Indigo as it comes to market is a blue
powder or paste prepared from the root of the plant
In dig of era, or prepared synthetically from coal-tar
products. The two substances are chemically identical,
but the synthetic product is purer than the natural one.

136 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

When indigo is reduced by action of copperas and quick-
lime or other agents, it yields a grayish-white product,
indigo white, whose calcium salt is soluble in water. The
cotton is impregnated with indigo white, then exposed
to the air, when oxidation takes place producing the
blue indigo again in insoluble form on the fiber.
}/ Sulphur Dyes are those requiring sodium sulphide
to produce a solution. They are especially fast to light
and are used largely for linens and silks. .They require
after-treatment with potassium dichromate or by expo-
sure to air.

These different classes of dyes include hundreds of
different dyestuffs with many names. Firms such as
Cassella, Metz, Badische, and others have their distinc-
tive names for different dyestuffs. These and many
other large firms are German, but have American agents.

The use of the different classes of dyestuffs requires
considerable knowledge of chemistry and long practice
in handling. The difficulties in securing even colors,
fast colors, true shades, and always the same shades are
many.

Precautions in Using Dyes. With certain classes of
dyes hard water must not be used, as the calcium and
magnesium in the water precipitate the dyestuff, while
impurities like iron or organic matter may cause trouble.
Careful solution of the dyestuff that it may be evenly
distributed, regulation of the temperature of the solu-
tion, and the proper use of assistants are all important
precautions.

Sometimes a material may be dyed with a dyestuff
of one class, then topped, or dyed again in another kind

BLEACHING AND DYEING 137

of dyestuff. Basic dyes may be used on cotton, on a
tannin mordant, the cotton being then dipped in a direct
•cotton dye. The color acid of the direct cotton or sub-
stantive dye unites with the color base of the basic dye
and forms an insoluble compound.

In dyeing cotton with basic dyes two mordants may
be used. The cotton may be saturated with tannic acid
solution, then with an antimony salt, a tin salt, or an
iron salt, and finally dyed. An acid bath is used for
cotton and a neutral bath for wool.

With so large a choice of dyestuffs and so many
methods of using them, it will readily be seen that the
handling of dyes, if the best results are to be produced,
is no task for the amateur. Because of the greater
cost involved in dyeing Tast colors, the manufacturer is
tempted to produce fugitive ones. Chemicals used to
assist the dye process may weaken the fabric if they are
allowed to act too long, or if they are not entirely re-
moved from the cloth when the dyeing is complete.

Very crude, as well as the most refined, colors may
be obtained from these dyestuffs. It remains with the
dye expert to decide which. That aniline dyes may be
used for the most artistic products has been proved in
the Herter Studios in New York, where silks, wools,
linens, and cottons for the most wonderful tapestries,
rugs, and hangings are dyed in the chemical dye pot.

Oil Paints. A recent development in amateur dye-
ing is the use of oil paints and gasoline. The process
is very simple. The desired color may be obtained with
little difficulty by any one who understands the mixing
of paints. Only a limited amount of material may be

138 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

successfully dyed in this way, but it is especially suitable
for nets, laces, and other delicate materials.

The process consists in mixing the paints until the
desired hue is obtained, then dissolving in gasoline. The
fabric is dipped several times in the solution and dried.

Printing. Before the dawn of history man had
learned how to decorate the surface of his fabrics with
colors. The primitive South Sea Islander applies color to
his bark cloth by dipping a fern leaf into his dye made
from bark, berries, or colored earths, and laying the leaf

FIG. 32. — BLOCK FOR PRINTING

on the cloth. Higher up in the development of industries
comes the use of a stencil, wonderfully developed by the
Japanese. A block of wood with a design engraved upon
it, which was dipped in the paint and then applied to the
cloth, was an early method of printing. With the devel-
opment of machinery came the copper roll with the
design engraved upon it, this giving a continuous appli-
cation of the pattern, whereas the block print must be
applied separately for each repeat of the pattern. At the
present time both the wooden block and the copper roll
are used, although for general commercial purposes the
block has almost disappeared.

BLEACHING AND DYEING 139

The purpose of printing, as opposed to dyeing, is to
produce upon the cloth a design in one or many colors
without the complicated weave that would be necessary
if it were produced with threads dyed in the yarn. The
effect obtained is also very different from the effect
of a woven design. In organdies and thin materials it
would not be possible to produce the delicate color effects
in any other way except by hand painting.

Printing may be done on woven cloth or on the warp
threads before weaving. The latter method produces a
somewhat indefinite or soft effect, very attractive in
Persian silks, Dresden ribbons, and other materials.
This method is used also in tapestry rugs, where econ-
omy of material is desired. In this case, however, the
result is not particularly good.

The machinery used for printing consists of a large
drum with an endless blanket, over which the cloth
passes slowly, and copper rolls, one for each color in the
design, revolving in close contact with the cylinder. The
part of the pattern to be produced in any one color is
engraved on its particular roll ; therefore in very elab-
orate designs there may be as many as twenty rolls.
The colors for printing are mixed, thickened with gum,
and put into troughs just below the copper rolls. A
feed roll covered with felt dips into the dye and comes
against the copper roll, supplying it with color. A strip
of steel called a "doctor" scrapes all the dye off the cop-
per roll, except that which is in the engraved parts ; this
goes onto the cloth, and there must be just enough to
print the pattern, but not enough to run. Since the large
drum is heated the dye is almost immediately dried.

I4O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

There are three methods of producing a printed de-
sign on a cloth. The first or direct method is given
above, and is used mostly for cloth with a white back-
ground. For cloth which is to have a colored background
with the figure printed upon it, other methods are used.
In the discharge method the cloth is first dyed a solid
color; the design is then printed on with some chemical
which removes the color from the spot which is to fur-
nish the design.

The. resist method consists in printing the design on
the cloth with a chemical which prevents the absorption
of the dyestuff, and thus, when the cloth is dyed later,
the design is left white or of the desired color. A great
variety of effects may be produced with the discharge and
resist methods of printing. The greatest difficulty with
them is that frequently the chemical used is too strong
and weakens the cloth, especially if it is not entirely
removed. Sometimes in cheap prints the figure will
drop out entirely, long before the main body of the cloth
is worn out.

Careful mixing of color and thickening agent, of
color and mordant, or proper mordanting of the cloth
before printing is very essential. The color is usually
developed after printing by steaming or by treating with
a chemical developer. Care must be taken that the ma-
chinery is adjusted exactly; otherwise too little or too
much color may be applied.

When printing warps, the threads must have been
previously wound on the warp beam as they are to go
into the loom, and this relative position must be kept.

The possibilities of machine printing are numerous,

BLEACHING AND DYEING

141

and the results may be beautiful or hideous according
to the taste of the designer and the choice of colors.

Block printing is still used by craft workers and in
the manufacture of expensive chintz, cretonne, silks, etc.,
where the design is very elaborate and a particularly

SP?

A. Japanese Print

FIG. 33. — COTTON PRINTS

B and C. French Chintz printed on warp before weaving

artistic effect is desired. Block printing has a more in-
dividual appearance than machine printing. The Japa-
nese are past masters in the art of block printing, as
they are in stenciling, their prints on paper being most
wonderful.

Liberty & Company, London and Paris, produce
beautiful block-printed silks, satins, and cottons at their

142 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

print works in Merton Abbey, England, where are also
located the print works started by William Morris, in
which blocks only are used.

REFERENCES

Fraps, G. S. Principles of Dyeing.

Knecht, E., Rawson, G., and Loewenthal, R. A Manual
of Dyeing.

Matthews, J. M. Laboratory Guide of Dyeing and Tex-
tile Chemistry.

CHAPTER IX
ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING

IN the foregoing pages the effort has been made to
show how modern machine methods, modern scien-
tific knowledge, and modern competition have changed
the character and increased the quantity of textile fab-
rics on the market. Frequently increase in quantity has
meant decrease in quality, cheap production has meant
poor material, and haste has meant waste. There is a
great variety of excellent materials on the market, mate-
rials which compare well with hand-made productions
in wearing quality and which excel in beauty of finish.
There are also many materials poor in quality, although
often attractive, which are the result of this new era of
machinery. They are deceptive in appearance, are sold
under misleading names, and are not worth the prices
put upon them.

The transition from "home-spun" to "factory-made"
has not only affected the fabrics on the market, but it
has also changed the position of woman in the home.
Woman is no longer the producer, but she is more than
ever the consumer of textile fabrics. The removal of
the textile industries from the home has brought woman
out from the home into the factory, or it has given her
time to go more into public and has greatly increased
the occupation of shopping. The increase in ready-made
clothing and household linens, by removing a large part

144 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

of the sewing from the household, has furthered this
change.

In olden times the quality of home-spun and home-
woven material was the best possible to be obtained from
the materials by the methods then known. Woolen cloth
was all wool and linen cloth was not half cotton or
adulterated with starch. Honest and durable materials
were the rule of the day. Modern discoveries, mechan-
ical and chemical, have increased the possibilities of
cotton, linen, silk, and wool, so that it is frequently diffi-
cult to recognize the material as it appears in the finished
cloth.

On the one hand, the field of textile knowledge has
grown enormously ; on the other hand, women, although
becoming more and more the buyers of fabrics, have less
knowledge of the quality of materials, because they do
not gain that knowledge through the making of cloth,
often not even through the making of garments. The
result has been that they depend more and more on the
word of clerks who are often as ignorant as themselves,
until by painful experience they learn some of the things
to be avoided.

As the cost of living increases it is likewise im-
portant that the woman of the household should know
how to spend the family income most economically.
Since from ten to twenty per cent of this income is spent
on clothing and house furnishing, it is imperative that
more thought and careful study should be given to this
branch of household economy.

The problem of buying is more complex than many
people realize. It is only quite recently that thoughtful

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING 145

women have considered the far-reaching influence which
their selection may have upon others. The laws of de-
mand and supply hold for the household buyer just as
they do in larger transactions. Every woman, as she
buys her day's food supply or her fall gown, does just
so much toward setting the standards for the grocer,
the garment maker, or the factory worker. The buyer
may take her place among the thousands who know not
and care not how the other half lives, or she may join
the smaller army of those who demand some informa-
tion about the conditions under which their garments
and food are made, and who are slowly making sentiment
for better conditions. The protection of the home against
foul diseases, as well as the protection of the health of
the worker, requires that certain existing conditions shall
be done away with. Increasing emphasis is now laid
upon the hygiene of clothing; the buyer must consider
if the material she chooses can be kept hygienically
clean, if it answers the body requirements of removing
perspiration, and of protection from heat or cold. The
conditions under which materials are manufactured, the
hygiene of materials, and color and design will be more
fully discussed in later chapters.

Increase in culture demands more artistic clothing
and house-furnishing material. The artificiality of mod-
ern civilization has increased the number of household
furnishings and of clothes, and has replaced the simplic-
ity of an earlier period with a great variety of shades
and lines and with numberless designs. The buyer has
great opportunity to exercise good or bad taste in choos-
ing materials from such an array.

146 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

The economic side of buying should receive the care-
ful study of every woman. How best shall the available
money be spent in order that the greatest return in
quality and quantity may be secured? Fashion, that
lord over all dress, and too often over house furnishings
as well, is responsible for an enormous amount of waste.
Clothes are not expected to wear any length of time ; it
is not desirable that they should last more than one or
two seasons. The manufacturer does not try to make his
colors fast and his materials long-lived, for that is not
what the public demands. Variety and novelty are the
cries of the day, and in order that these may be sup-
plied cheapness must often go along with them. The
woman who does not care for novelty and variety, but
is willing to pay a reasonable price for her materials,
finds herself confronted with a problem, because she
cannot distinguish durable cloth and because the market
does not always afford the long-lived materials, at least
for those of limited income.

The label attached to a material and the word of the
clerk are not always reliable ; the price is not necessarily
an indication of quality; even an intimate knowledge of
materials sometimes fails to detect a hidden weakness.
Chemical tests are not available in every household, and
cannot be' applied to the ready-made garments. A high
power microscope distinguishes one fiber from another,
but, again, the microscope is within reach only of the
few. Until the law requires the labeling of textiles as
it requires the labeling of food, knowledge of the char-
acter of materials and of the methods used by the
manufacturer for the adulteration of these materials,

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING 147

together with eternal vigilance, must be the protection
of the buyer. In the study of the individual fibers certain
characteristics were mentioned which aid the manufac-
turer in increasing the luster or the weight of different
materials — instances of imitation silks, of made-over
wools, of the use of one fiber to adulterate another. It
may be well in this chapter to review these devices for
increasing the apparent value of materials. Each fiber
will be considered separately and then a summary given.

COTTON

Cotton we have found to be cheap and plentiful, and
the demand for cotton cloth may easily be met with good
material. It is manufactured into a great variety of fab-
rics, and is capable of replacing to a certain extent any
other fiber. The quality of cotton cloth depends on the
strength of the fibers, the fineness or coarseness of mate-
rial, the weave, the color and design, and the adultera-
tions. The kind of cloth to be bought depends on the
use to which it is to be put; the quality demanded de-
pends on the use and also quite largely on the price to
be paid for the material.

The adulterations of cotton cloth are not numerous
and are not difficult to distinguish. Being the cheapest
of fibers, it is not adulterated with any other fiber, but
it may be increased in weight and apparent firmness by
the addition of sizing. This sizing, of course, does not
increase the wearing quality of the cloth, and may have
the opposite effect of weakening it considerably by the
presence of injurious chemicals. If these are present in
large quantitiejp, the cloth loses greatly in weight and

148 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

firmness with the first washing. A certain amount of
sizing is necessary to give the cloth a good finish and to
enable it to keep its shape while being handled upon the
counter, but this amount is frequently very much ex-
ceeded. Adulteration of this kind may be detected by the
feeling, as a large quantity imparts harshness to the
material. In very thin fabrics the sizing may often be
detected by holding the cloth up to the light, to show the
starch between the threads. Washing or boiling a sam-
ple thoroughly will show the amount of sizing present.

Another method used to adulterate cotton with sizing
or pastes is the imitation of an embroidered Swiss or
other thin material. In this case the design is printed
on the cloth in heavy paste, instead of being embroidered
in. This device gives most unsatisfactory results when
laundered. The dots either disappear in washing ^r
turn brown when ironed even at a temperature consid-
erably below that necessary to burn the cloth. The imi-
tation of mercerized cotton by heavy pressing with
engraved rollers has been mentioned. The luster thus
obtained is frequently on only one side of the cloth, and
has a different character from that of true merceriza-
tion. If the sample is washed, the imitation luster disap-
pears, while true mercerized luster is permanent.

It is well to test the strength of cotton goods by tear-
ing slightly at the edge of the material. It may have been
weakened by the bleaching process, or a bolt which has
been some time in stock may have become considerably
weakened by the action of the chemicals in the sizing or
the dye.

Standard cotton materials, such as muslin, organdie,

FIG. 36. — A. ALL-WOOL WORSTED, $0.75 A YARD B. SAME PRICE,

CALLED WOOL C. COTTON LEFT FROM B WHEN WOOL

REMOVED BY CAUSTIC POTASH D. WOOL LEFT,

COTTON REMOVED BY ACID

I5O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

percale, calico, and sheeting, differ only in weight of
material, fineness of thread, hardness of twist, or method
of finish. Ginghams have the thread dyed before weav-
ing and have fancy weaves, with the introduction of
silk threads in some grades. Duck, denim, and other
heavy materials have very hard-twisted threads, and are
frequently woven with a twill. Silkolene is a trade name
for a fine cotton cloth with a silky finish given after the
cloth is woven. Madras, shirting, cheviot, chambray, and
many other names are applied to materials with fd!ncy
weaves, figures, or stripes. Chintz and cretonne are
names given to heavier print goods used ?or house fur-
nishing. Mercerized cotton makes a number of attractive
lustrous materials for dress and for furnishing. Among
these may be mentioned poplin, imitation pongee, and
"Egyptian tapestry," the last being used for hangings.

India "linon" is entirely cotton ; "Canton flannel" has
a fleecy surface on .the wrong side, and "outing flannel"
is fleecy on both sides, but both are cotton.

Many "tussahs," "voiles," "economy linens/^and
other materials with rather deceptive names are cotton
made to imitate silk, wool, or linen.

WOOL

The adulterations of wool are more serious than those
of cotton. The excellent qualities of wool, its warmth,
its ability to keep its shape and smoothness through long
wearing, the richness of material made from it, the ease
with which it absorbs and retains dyes, all contribute
to create the immense demand for woolen cloth. At the
present time this demand so far exceeds the supply that

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING 151

one-third of the woolen cloth on the market is made
from old rags worked back into fiber and respun. This
made-over wool, or shoddy, appears in various forms. It
may be quite good in quality and be woven into woolen
cloth without the addition of new wool. A small qttan-

FIG. 35. — CLOTH MADE FROM SHODDY AND COTTON

tity of new wool or of cotton may be mixed with shoddy,
when a better wearing material will be the result. Short
fibers, either shoddy or the clippings from tailors' shops,
sweepings from looms, etc., may be matted into the sur-
face of cloth to add weight and thickness. This treat-
ment may often be detected by raveling threads from
the cloth, when the very short fibers drop out. Shoddy

152 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

supplies a cheap wool, with good warmth, but does not
look as rich as a more expensive cloth or wear as long
as new wool. The threads from a piece of shoddy break
easily, and when raveled the short fibers are exposed.
Under the microscope broken and imperfect fibers may
be detected, as well as unevenness in size of thread and
in color.

The use of cotton to adulterate \vool is very com-
mon, and because of the felting property of wool much
cotton may be concealed in a woolen cloth. In worsted
cotton is more easy to detect, as it may not be carded
with the wool, but a spun thread of cotton can be mixed
with a spun thread of wool. Burning serves to distin-
guish cotton from wool, although this is not an exact
test. Cotton burns much more quickly than wool and
with more flame; wool has an cdor of burnt feathers,
chars, and leaves a crisp ash. The broken end of a wool
thread shows fibers stiffer and more kinky than the
broken end of a cotton thread. Here the microscopic test
is most satisfactory.

In some materials the mixture of cotton and wool is
a good one. Especially is this true in undergarments,
when the cotton comes next to the body, absorbs the
moisture quickly, and gives it up gradually to the wool
outside. The manufacturer, however, is not always will-
ing to say that his undergarments contain cotton.
"Wool" union suits have been found with varying
amounts of cotton, from about ten per cent to perhaps
ninety per cent, and some "all-wool" garments are really
all wool. In dress material the greatest objection to the
mixture of wool and cotton is the uneven shrinkage of

FIG. 34-— A. IMITATION DOTTED Swiss, PASTE DOTS PRINTED ON

B. SAME AFTER WASHING A FEW TIMES

C. PRESSED WITH HOT IRON

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the two, which makes it impossible to keep the material
well pressed. There are exceptions to this in mohair
and alpaca, where the wool is much more hair-like and
does not shrink and felt as sheep's wool does. In this

FIG. 37. — MOHAIR, SHOWING COTTON WARP; WOOL REMOVED
BY CAUSTIC POTASH

case the cotton is not considered an adulteration, as the
material is not sold for all-wool and does not command
a high price. Poor grades of wool are disappointing in
that they soon wear shabby, shrink badly when wet be-
cause of lack of proper shrinkage in making, and lack
fastness of color.

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING 155

There are many grades of woolen and worsted cloth,
varying in weight, firmness of weave, finish, purity,
color, weave design, etc. The standard broadcloths,
worsted suitings, expensive voiles, etc., materials which
bring a good price, are usually all wool and wear well.
Here again the "novelty," the new material for the sea-
son, not always the lower-priced cloth, though frequently
so, is the one to be examined. Unfortunately, the poor-
grade cloth usually sells at the price which catches the
buyer who can least afford to be deceived and to whom
economic waste is most serious.

SILK

Since silk is the most expensive fiber and has char-
acteristics which make it very easy to adulterate, the
manufacturer frequently yields to the temptation offered
him. The best grade of silk, that reeled from the cocoon
in one continuous thread, possesses a -high luster, beauty,
and strength not to be duplicated. Silk carded and spun
from inferior cocoons lacks the luster and strength of
reeled silk, but may be used in combination with it to
produce excellent materials. This inferior silk is fre-
quently used for the back of velvet and satin and for
the warp of silk woven with the sateen weave, when the
luster is produced by the filling thread. The thread of
spun silk is quite like cotton. It has short fibers whose
ends appear fuzzy on the surface of the thread. Poorer
qualities of silk, imitation pongee, and some thin, cheap
silks are woven entirely of spun silk.

Two generations ago the quality of silk cloth was
much superior to that now found upon the market, but

156 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the price was also much higher. The public has de-
manded silk for common use at a low price, and the
manufacturer has met this demand by using less silk
in a given material and making up the weight by in-
creased amounts of dye, metallic salts, gum, etc., which
the silk fiber readily absorbs. This loading process re-
duces the wearing quality of the fiber and often causes
it to split or to wear shiny. Practically no silk can be
found entirely free from loading, but the amount dif-
fers greatly in different materials. It is considered le-
gitimate to add thirty per cent, the equivalent of the loss
due to the removal of silk gum in the boiling-off proc-
esses. Taffeta is commonly heavily loaded, while China
silks and other thin silks, as crepe de Chine and chiffons,
which weigh only a few ounces per yard, are compara-
tively pure. Softness and luster do not serve to distin-
guish pure silk, as a lustrous finish may be given to a
heavily loaded silk'.

The simplest test for weighting consists in burning
a thread or a piece of the fabric. Pure silk burns slowly,
leaving as it burns a small amount of ash in the form
of a crisp ball at the end of the thread or a crisp edge
when the fabric is burned. Heavily weighted silk burns
leaving the ash in the form of the original thread or
cloth; this ash, of course, drops to pieces readily.

The cost of raw silk is about thirty times that of raw
cotton, and the loss of silk at least five times that of cot-
ton. The prices charged for silk fabrics are not at all
equivalent to this difference. Silk is frequently woven
with cotton, but it is not possible to spin a thread of
the two together. In satins, velvets, and brocades the

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING

157

cotton forms the back of the cloth, and is entirely cov-
ered by the silk threads on the surface. In cheap silks
a fine cotton thread sometimes forms either warp or
filling. Mercerized cotton and spun silk are woven to-
gether to form a material which resembles pongee, and
is sold under the names of rajah and tussah, or similar
materials may be made entirely of mercerized cotton.

FIG. 38. — A. SAMPLE OF SILK B. SAME BURNED IN FLAME

C. ASH AFTER THOROUGH COMBUSTION

Gave test for tin, aluminum, chromium, and iron ; this with glucose gums, etc.,
made up 60 per cent of sample

Such materials may be excellent in themselves and may
wear well, but they should not be sold as good silks.

Artificial silk is now produced in large quantities,
and is found in braids and passementeries. When tested
chemically it acts as a vegetable fiber. It is weakened
by the continued action of water.

•The variety of silks on the market is very great,
and the problem in buying them is a difficult one. To
a certain extent cost is a protection, yet expensive silk

158 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

may be poor. Heavy silks at a low price are a danger-
ous investment. The mark of the manufacturer in the
selvage of silk is a good sign, as a manufacturer does
not often flaunt his label upon a poor material.

LINEN

Because of the high value put on linen, it is, like
silk, often adulterated. Although similar to cotton in
chemical structure, it is very different in physical char-
acteristics, and these physical characteristics must serve
to distinguish it from cotton. In many cases cotton
has replaced linen in modern usage, but for table serv-
ice, towels, and handkerchiefs linen is much superior;
for sheets it is preferred by many, and for clothing it
is handsomer. For all of these uses cotton may be
found mixed with linen, or with no linen at all, yet
sometimes stamped and sold as linen. "Linen" collars
are rarely all linen, frequently all cotton; "linen"
handkerchiefs, especially inexpensive embroidered ones,
are often entirely cotton, and table " linen " may be
linen, linen and cotton, mercerized cotton, or ordinary
cotton.

The combination of linen and cotton may be good
for certain purposes, but when beauty of a lustrous sur-
face, snowy whiteness, or the peculiar leathery texture
which enables linen to hold its place so well on a table
are desired, the mixture of cotton is very detrimental.
For absorption of water in towels and handkerchiefs
cotton is not as good as linen.

To distinguish the two nothing is so sure as, the
microscopic test. The long, straight fiber of linen is

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING 159

readily distinguished from the twisted fiber of cotton.
The linen thread is stronger than cotton, has more luster,
and is usually less even. The ends of the short fibers of
cotton project from the surface of the thread, giving
a rough appearance, especially when. the thread is rubbed
between the fingers ; when broken, cotton has a tufted end,
while linen breaks more unevenly and leaves a long,
pointed end. Some kinds of linen have flat threads, but
cotton is frequently finished in imitation of flat thread
linen.

The old test of moistening the finger and putting it
under the cloth is not always a sure one, as the moisture
will not come through a heavy linen or one with much
starch in it, and will come through a sheer, tightly twisted
cotton. A better test is to put a drop of olive oil or
glycerin on the cloth and press it between blotting
papers. If there is not much starch present, or if the
starch has first been removed from the cloth, linen
becomes more transparent than cotton.

The typical weaves used for linens are as follows :
the damask, satin, or sateen weave used for table linens
and towels is especially good for the former, because of
the smooth, lustrous surface it affords, but is not so good
for towels, since it does not absorb moisture readily,
although it is very attractive; buck, an uneven weave,
gives a good surface for the absorption of water, makes
excellent towels, and when decorated with designs in
damask weave may be very handsome. Many linens in
plain weaves are available for clothing and embroidery.
Sometimes the threads are round, sometimes beaten flat.

The texture of linen is such that the heavier kinds

l6o HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

hang well in folds, lie flat on the table, and are very artis-
tic for many purposes. This beauty of texture is lost
when starch is added.

Large quantities of starch or sizing are added to thin,
poor quality linens . to give an attractive appearance.
These are disappointing when the filling is removed by
washing. Careful examination when buying will detect
this starch. It is necessary to add some starch in fin-
ishing most linens, so that they will not become too
badly soiled with the handling received on the counter.
This starching should be distinguished from excessive
weighting.

Certain coarse, heavy linen crashes, often hand-woven
peasant products, have become popular of late for house
furnishing purposes. The heavy thread and uneven
weave give a pleasing texture, and the natural color of
the linen is attractive; the fabrics lend themselves
especially well to coarse embroidery, stencil, or applique.

SUMMARY

To sum up, the adulterations most likely to be found
and the simple tests for them are as follows:

1. By combination. Use of other fibers than the
one indicated by the name of the material. Example,
cotton in woolens, cotton in linens, etc.

2. By substitution. Selling one fiber under the name
of an entirely different one. Example, mercerized cot-
ton sold for silk or linen.

3. By increasing the weight of a material, fa) Cot-
tons and linens with starch; (b) silks with metallic salts
and dyes.

ADULTERATIONS AND BUYING l6l

4. By giving a finish which is deceptive, (a) Heavy
pressing or calendering on ordinary cotton to imitate
mercerizing; (b) finishing cotton to look like linen; (c)
printing paste dots on cotton to produce the effect of
embroidered dotted Swiss.

5. By use of made-over yarns. Example, shoddy in
woolens; also addition of short wool, felted in surface.

TESTS FOR ADULTERATION

1. Examination of cloth to see if all threads are
alike and to distinguish kind of thread.

2. Examination of individual threads.

Cotton : short fibers ; ends appear fuzzy in thread.

Wool: short fibers; decidedly kinky and stiff.

Silk: long, straight fibers with luster; if spun
silk, fibers short ; thread looks more like cot-
ton ; breaks more easily than reeled ' silk.

Linen : strong threads ; high luster ; when broken,
ends very uneven and straight.

3. Burning tests: (a) Cotton burns quickly with
flame; (b) wool burns slowly, chars, gives off odor of
burnt feathers; (c) silk burns slowly, leaves small, crisp
ash, and when weighted leaves more ash; (d) linen,
similar to cotton. .

4. Linen, if without much starch, becomes translu-
cent when treated with olive oil ; cotton remains opaque.

5. A mixture of cotton and wool when wet wrinkles
more than pure wool.

6. A careful examination of the finish of the mate-
rial. Observe, if alike on both sides, if the apparent
beauty of the material is due to finish or to good quality
of material.

l62 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

An intelligent understanding of what one must look
for, and continued practice, in time greatly increase the
ability to buy intelligently. Laboratory work in the iden-
tification of fibers and the analysis of materials gives
a more thorough familiarity with fabrics. Some of
these tests might easily be applied in the household.

A demand on the part of buyers for better materials
might help in securing honest fabrics. Better still would
be a pure textile law to protect from adulterated tex-
tiles, as the pure food law seeks to protect from adulter-
ated foods. According to the statements of the textile
interests such a law would be impossible, but at least it
would be interesting to see it attempted.

CHAPTER X
THE HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS

TT 7ITH the great movement throughout the country
* * for public health, there seems little excuse for
ignorance regarding fabrics that conserve health, yet
the general public is ignorant or indifferent, or both, to
organized effort for better conditions. Much has been
said about the athletic American woman and her sensi-
ble clothes, but she is still woefully lacking from the
strictly hygienic standpoint. Education, common sense,
and combined effort need to be applied to the clothing
problem, not to produce a sudden or peculiar dress re-
form, but to improve still further dress of the present
day.

Machinery produces an endless variety of materials,
artists create beautiful costumes, the gymnasium, the
tennis court, the swimming pool develop splendid fig-
ures. Yet colds, pneumonia, and tuberculosis are too
prevalent. Undoubtedly improper clothing must bear
part of the blame for this.

From the arctic regions to the heart of the tropics
men wear clothing of one kind or another. Sometimes
this clothing is very limited, but even the string of beads
of the Central African serves his purpose of dress. The
clothing of the Eskimo prevents him from freezing to
death ; the South Sea Islander satisfies his love of dec-

163

164 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

oration with the few garments he wears, and charms the
tropical lady with his belt of feathers.

Throughout history dress has fulfilled one need or
another. In modem civilized society it must satisfy sev-
eral demands. Protection from the elements, modesty,
ornament, and fashion must all have a place, and it is
often difficult to provide for all of these needs in one
costume. The special field of hygiene of dress is the
proper protection of the body, not only from the ele-
ments, but also from the tyranny of fashion.

It is not the purpose in this chapter to discuss the
large problem of proper clothing, but merely that part
of it which has to do with the qualities of materials. To
understand this question one must know what bodily
needs clothing has to fulfill and what qualities different
materials have to enable them to meet the requirements.
Living conditions have changed greatly in the last few
decades. Houses are warmer, street and railway cars
are overheated, public buildings are often hot, and the
home is not as draughty as it used to be, therefore the
costume which was proper two generations ago is not
suitable today. There are still, however, cold days and
damp days, and outdoor conditions are much as they
always have been. Modern physiological science has
changed our views somewhat in regard to the needs of
clothing, but has not yet thoroughly taught us just what
the proper clothing should be.

For physical and mental efficiency it is necessary
that the body be warm, clean, have unrestricted circu-
lation of blood and unrestricted ability to breathe. Man,
unlike other animals, is unable to live in cold climates

THE HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS 165

nor can white man live in tropical climates with only his
natural coverings, but must depend on clothes for pro-
tection. If protection were the only requirement of dress
the problem would be fairly simple, but fashion dictates
how garments must be made entirely regardless of the
health of the wearer. Then the individual tries to make
them meet the demands of fashion and sometimes of
hygiene as well.

Clothing which comes next the skin should be of such
a character that it will help maintain a constant body
temperature, will absorb and take care of the perspi-
ration, give proper ventilation to the skin, and also
be of such nature that it may be cleaned readily. It is
important that the body be not overheated. In modern
city apartments there is much more likelihood of this
than of the other extreme.

A material to be warm need not necessarily be heavy
or thick. The requirements differ for an outer and an
under garment. An undergarment may be loosely woven,
quite light in weight, and yet be warm. Still air is a poor
conductor of heat, and the air which is held in the
meshes of an undergarment is warm, gives opportunity
for ventilation, and aids in evaporating the perspiration.
In an outer garment a loose weave gives opportunity for
the wind to pass through and allows too rapid a change
of air underneath, and so is not warm. Several layers
of light weight material are better than one layer of
thick material, because of the layers of air held between
them.

The warmth of a material also depends on the con-
ductive power of the fiber from which it is woven.

1 66 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Wool and silk are poor conductors of heat, cotton and
linen better conductors. Linen feels cold to the touch,
and is therefore pleasant for summer clothing. The
conductive power of the fibers is not, however, as great
a consideration as that of the amount of air inclosed in
the meshes of the fiber.

The nature of the fibers, whether they will mat closely
together or remain apart because of their elasticity and
inclose air, also the weave of a fabric are very impor-
tant factors in determining the warmth of a garment.
Wool has this elasticity and makes a warm fabric, but
after frequent washing the fibers become more felted
together and harder, and the material is less desirable ;
this is especially true when it is carelessly washed.
Linen and cotton may be woven with large meshes, but
are ordinarily woven into close, thin materials, which
are not very warm.

Heat is carried from the body in three ways: (i)
By conduction by the still air or the clothing materials.
(2) By convection, moving air which takes the warm air
from next the body and replaces it with cold air which
must then be warmed. (3) By the evaporation of
perspiration.

The same characteristics which make a fabric warm
give to it the ability to care for the perspiration. A
loosely woven mesh material will absorb moisture more
readily than one closely woven. The air in the meshes
also aids in the evaporation of the perspiration. Some-
times there is danger of too rapid evaporation, therefore
too rapid cooling, when the outside air has easy access
to the undergarment. Those materials, like leather and

THE HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS l6/

rubber, which allow no air to pass through prevent
chilling by convection, but at the same time may become
very uncomfortable because they do not permit the evap-
oration of perspiration and the skin becomes chilled by
the moist garment in contact with it.

Thus far we have spoken almost entirely of keeping
the body warm in cold weather. It is also essential to
keep it cool in very hot weather. Garments which allow
the rapid evaporation of perspiration and the removal
of heat by convection are cool in summer. In the tropics
special kinds of cloth which allow rapid passage of air
are used by the white man. Special colors are also
necessary, but the subject of color will be discussed more
fully in a later paragraph.

The difference in the ability of fibers to absorb mois-
ture without seeming wet is called their hygroscopic
power. Wool may absorb thirty per cent of its own
weight without changing noticeably in appearance; silk
also absorbs much moisture without seeming wet. Cot-
ton and linen have much less ability to do this. While
wool absorbs a great deal of moisture it takes it up
slowly; for this reason a layer of cotton next the skin,
with a layer of wool just outside, seems to be very satis-
factory. The cotton absorbs the moisture and passes it
onto the wool, from which it is evaporated slowly, thus
preventing rapid cooling of the skin. Undergarments
are woven which carry out this idea; a thin knit fabric
of cotton is combined with a thin fabric of wool in such
a way that there is an air space between the two. This
garment has also the advantage over all wool that it does
not irritate the skin.

l68 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Probably few people in active life need woolen un-
derwear ; it is warmer than is necessary ; it is irritating,
and when one exercises the perspiration is not absorbed
quickly enough and the skin becomes wet, a bad condi-
tion. Those who are leading a sedentary life do need
woolens because their skin is not kept warm by muscu-
lar activity. Wool is also a good protection against
sudden exposure and extreme cold, but it need not be
worn in direct contact with the skin. Silk has many
points in its favor; it is attractive, a poor conductor of
heat, is easily laundered when pure, and absorbs water
easily. The prohibitive feature of silk for most people
is, of course, its price. With the present adulterations,
aside from the union suits, hose, and undershirts, few
silk materials fulfill all the requirements of a thoroughly
hygienic garment next the skin.

To perform its functions most satisfactorily a gar-
ment must be clean, for the excretions of the skin clog
the pores of the cloth touching it, just as they clog the
pores of the skin itself if it is not properly washed. Ven-
tilation and evaporation of perspiration cannot go on so
well if the garment is thus clogged. Choice of material
which is easily laundered is therefore important, and is
another point in favor of cotton rather than wool.

Outer clothing has not so many essential require-
ments ; its chief function from a hygienic standpoint is
that it be warm in winter and cool in summer, and that
it allow some ventilation. The outer clothing may be
easily changed, and should, therefore, furnish the chief
difference in warmth between dress in a steam-heated
house and street dress. Furs are warm chieflv because

THE HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS 169

of the air held in and of the impenetrable character of
the skin. They are warmer when the fur is worn inside,
since it then holds a layer of still air. Furs swathed
closely about the neck are unhygienic, as the skin becomes
sensitive and colds are easly contracted.

Moist air conducts heat more readily than dry air,
therefore on a damp, cold day there is greater need for
active exercise or warmer clothing.

Color is an important factor in clothing only in con-
nection with outside garments. The old tradition that
red flannels are warmer than white has no foundation,
unless it be that the red dye makes them a trifle more
irritating. In outside clothing certain colors absorb more
heat from the sun's rays ; black, blue, green, and red
absorb more, yellow and white less. Black also absorbs
odors more readily. White reflects the sun's rays most,
black least.

In the tropics outside garments are made from white
materials and lined with dark green or some other dark
color. Certain rays of the sun are reflected by the white,
but others pass through. These are absorbed by the dark
material, and the skin is thus protected. It has been sup-
posed that the color of the black man's skin is a protec-
tion from certain poisonous sun's rays from which the
white man must protect himself in an artificial manner.
This theory is now questioned.

SUMMARY

To summarize, clothing must be such that it will aid
the body in maintaining constant temperature whatever
the temperature of the outside air may be.

I/O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Clothing material must be of such texture that it
not only aids in maintaining the right temperature, but
also takes care of perspiration in such a way that the
skin is cooled rapidly in hot weather and not too rapidly
in cold weather.

The outside clothing must perform a function dif-
ferent from the under clothing, and so should differ in
nature.

A thick garment is not necessarily the warmest one,
neither need a garment be heavy. Light and warm are
not opposing terms.

Access of air to the skin should be regulated, not
prevented.

Free movement of the body should not be interfered
with, neither should clothing be so warm that exercise
is uncomfortable.

Cleanliness is all important both for the best func-
tioning of the skin and for the comfort of one's self and
one's friends.

Every person must decide what his or her needs are
and dress accordingly. General rules cannot be laid
down for all. Much is determined by living conditions,
amount of exercise, age, health, etc. If not enough
clothes are worn then more food is required, and the
organs must do more work to keep the body temperature
normal.

There has been a reaction from the woolens of the
past, and doubtless some have gone to the extreme of
not dressing warmly enough. Common sense, together
with knowledge of bodily needs, will do much to improve
conditions.

THE HYGIENE OF CLOTHING MATERIALS

REFERENCES

Harrington, Charles. Manual of Hygiene.
Hough and Sedgwick. The Human Mechanism.

CHAPTER XI
DESIGN AND COLOR IN TEXTILE FABRICS

THE problems of design and color in textile fabrics
are somewhat complicated. No general rules for se-
lection may be given, for there are many factors influenc-
ing the choice; among these are the use to which the
material is to be put, the texture and cost of the material,
and the individual taste. It is not the purpose of this
chapter to go deeply into the theories of design and color,
but only to give a few suggestions which may lead to
further study or which may in themselves prove helpful
in choosing artistic fabrics. A few foundation principles
will be given, then a more general discussion of decora-
tive art as applied to clothing and house furnishing
materials.

DESIGN

The terms and principles of pure design have been
reduced by theorists1 to simple denominations. Tone,
measure, and shape are terms which define the units of
a composition. The principles by which these units are
combined to produce order and beauty are termed
rhythm, balance, and harmony:

"Tone means the value (as dark, light) or the color
(as red, green, blue).

"Measure means the size (as long, short, large, small).

1 Notably Dr. Denman W. Ross, of Harvard University.
172

DESIGN AND COLOR 173

"Shape means the contour or bounding line (as
straight, curved, square, round).

"Rhythm means joint action or movement, a consistent
relation and connection of parts that enable the eye to
find a way through all the details of a design.

"Balance means repose, that results from the oppo-
sition of attractions.

"Harmony means 'the consistency of likeness, hav-
ing something in common.' 'A unity, all the terms of
which are in interior accord.' " x

Rhythm is gained either through a gradation of tone
from light to dark or from one color to another,
through a shape which by its repetition or by its outline
carries the eye along, or through measures which in-
crease from small to large.

Harmony is obtained by a similarity of tone, or tones,
having some common element, by a likeness of shapes,
by measures either like or in some definite proportion.

Balance is obtained by the arrangement of tones,
shapes, and measures in such a manner that there is
symmetry between the parts.

With these terms and principles we have a number
of possible combinations which may produce order.
We may have one or all of the following present in a
good design: tone rhythm, tone balance, tone harmony;
shape rhythm, shape balance, shape harmony, or measure
rhythm, measure balance, measure harmony.

Analysis of one or two designs may aid in illustra-
tion. In the photograph of a piece of Japanese silk the
figure of the dragon illustrates measure rhythm from

1Batchelder, Ernest A. The Principles of Design.

1/4 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the small scales at the end of the tail to the larger scales
in the body. The scroll shape on the body is rhythmic
in its gradually tapering points. There is rhythm of
tone from the lighter tones to the dark ones throughout
the figure. While there is no balance produced by oppo-
sition of like figures on two sides of a line, there is tone
balance between the lights and darks, giving the effect
of a medium tone to the whole. Tone harmony is illus-
trated by the repetition of the same tone in different parts

FIG. 39. — JAPANESE SILK

of the design, shape harmony by the similarity of con-
tour, and measure harmony by the similarity in size
of some of the scales.

The Persian brocade design illustrates the principle
of balance more clearly. There is exact balance of
shape, measure, and tone on the two sides of a vertical
axis. Shape rhythm is also expressed in the leaves,
buds, and vases, and tone rhythm is especially well shown
in the birds near the vases. There is harmony in the
shapes of buds, flowers, leaves, and scrolls, and harmony
in tone in the different parts. The result is not only

DESIGN AND COLOR

1/5

entirely orderly, but beautiful as well. Unless some
of these principles are observed in a design, order
will not result, and it is not possible to have beauty with-
out order. On the other hand, beauty does not neces-
sarily follow order. There must be some beauty in the
shapes chosen for the parts of the design, some ijiter-

FIG. 40. — PERSIAN BROCADE

est in the combinations of shapes, and excellence of
execution.

COLOR

The importance of color in clothing and house fur-
nishing is even greater than that of design. The effect
of a good design may be ruined by poor color combina-
tion, and an excellent color scheme will do much to re-
deem a poor design. Color is ever present and deter-

176

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Orange
Yellow

Red
Orange

mines the atmosphere of a
room or costume. Color has
a decided effect upon the
nerves, although one is not
always conscious of its influ-
ence.

As in design there are prin-
ciples which aid in producing
and judging good results, so
in color there are theories
which aid in the development
of a good color sense. The
science of color has been slow
to develop, but of recent years
definite scales have been for-
mulated, which correspond to
scales in music, and rules for
color harmonies determined.
The use of these scales is not
very general yet. Only a few
principles for producing color
harmonies will be given here.

If a beam of light is divided
by means of a triangular glass
prism, the constituent parts
when impinged on a white

FIG. 41. — SCALE OF VALUES screen WJH show a band of
FROM WHITE TO BLACK

Colorsintheir^atestintensitiescorre- Colors. Beginning at One end
spond in value to spots opposite crimson) this grad-

Violet
Red

Blue
Violet

ually shades into a brilliant red, which develops into
orange, then into yellow, green, blue, and finally into

DESIGN AND COLOR

violet. This band of color is known as the solar spec-
trum and contains all color. The hundreds of variations
of color found in nature and used by man are produced
by combinations of these colors with each other or with
black or white.

The effect of light produced by any pigment material
or mixture of pigments is known as a tone. As has
been stated above, each tone has two elements, the ele-
ment of light or shade, which may be known as value,
and the element of color or hue.

When we speak of value, we mean the amount of
light present, or the absence of light. If we were to
make a scale of spots, white at one end, and gradually
becoming darker until we had black at the other end,
we should have a scale of values. We should have
absence of color, but a variety of light and shade.

The colors of the spectrum are as pure as it is pos-
sible to obtain color, and are therefore said to be in
their greatest intensity; that is, the red is as red as is
possible, the blue as blue, and so on. Opposed to this
intensity is neutrality, in which we have no color. The
scale of values between black and white is a neutral scale.

If now we should compare the colors of the spectrum
with the scale of values, we should find that each color
in its greatest intensity would correspond in value with
one of the neutral spots in that scale. In those colors
we should have great difference in value, from very
light yellow to dark violet.

By adding black or white to any color, it is possible
to lessen its intensity and change its value, so that we
may produce any one color in all the different values of

178

HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the scale. These variations of the color are known as
tints and shades. Again, between the color in its great-
est intensity and the neutral spot of the same value
there are a great many variations. As we neutralize the
intense color, we have a series of tones, often known as

Blue
Violet

>«*

Orange
Yellow

FIG. 42. — COLOR WHEEL

broken tones. These broken tones differ from tints and
shades of the original color, in that they may either be
of the same value as the intense color, or they may be
of different values; but if this is the case they are not
as intense as the tint or shade of the original color in that
value would be.

DESIGN AND COLOR 1/9

If the six colors of the spectrum, together with the
colors formed by the combination of any two adjacent
colors, be put in a sequence, as in the figure, we should
have a circle, in which each color is related to the one
next it. This may be called the color wheel, and serves
as a basis for study of color relations.

In examining this wheel it is readily seen that the
colors near one another are closely related, while those
farther apart have little in common. The colors directly
opposite in the wheel have least 'in common, and there-
fore make the greatest contrast. These strongly con-
trasting colors are known as complementary colors.
Combined in pure form, as found in the spectrum, they
produce white light ; in pigments they produce a neutral
gray. Red and green, blue and orange, violet and yel-
low, are examples of complementary colors. Contrast-
ing colors when placed in juxtaposition produce the
effect of a greater difference than really exists. When
properly used the contrast given by complementary colors
is pleasing, though exciting, and must be used with care.
Ordinarily one color is used in greater quantity than its
complementary : thus there is not a struggle for pre-
dominance.

The combination of colors just next to the comple-
mentary is less contrasting than the complementary com-
bination. The colors more nearly adjacent on the wheel
have even more in common. As the interval between
the colors becomes smaller, the contrast becomes less
and less.

Very pleasing combinations of colors in this small
interval may be produced : for example, greens and blues,

ISO HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

or orange yellows and yellows, or greens and yellows.
On the red side of the circle the combinations are more
difficult. The colors are very warm, and there is a
greater difference between the reds and violets than
between the oranges and yellows.

Used in their full intensities most combinations of
colors on the wheel are harsh and unpleasant. There
must be modification of the colors. Tints and shades and
broken tones are most used in producing harmonies.
This is especially true in clothing and house furnishing.

The combinations giving least contrast are those in
which different tones of the same color are used. Here
the contrast is only that of light and shade, or value.
Care must be exercised that the different values are of
the same or harmonious hues. For example, a light
green, which was a very blue green, might not harmo-
nize with a darker green which had a decidedly yellow
hue, while on the other hand, it would form an excellent
combination with a darker blue green.

The use of color must depend entirely upon the kind
of effect which is to be produced. If a brilliant effect
is wanted, intense colors may be used, and complemen-
tary contrasts will be in place. If a quiet, restful effect
is desired, close harmonies, of broken tones, as browns
and warm greens, will be chosen. A touch of a comple-
mentary may serve to relieve the monotony of a large
mass of color or to increase the brilliancy of that color.

A rich result may be obtained by combining a num-
ber of broken tones of different colors, and the contrast
may be lessened by having these colors very nearly equal
in value of light or dark. A neutral background may

DESIGN AND COLOR l8l

serve to harmonize a number of colors. Similarly a
drapery of chiffon over a number of colors in a cos-
tume tends to harmonize these.

Certain colors have characteristics which cause
them to be termed warm or cold. The red, orange, yel-
low side of the color wheel contains the warm colors,
the violet, blue, green side the cold colors. The warm
colors are those which seem to advance, the cold colors
to recede. Gray is usually cold, but when it contains a
large amount of pink becomes warmer. A cold color
scheme may be relieved by a bright touch of a warm
color, which if in small quantity may be quite intense.

The texture of material may aid in harmonizing color.
The rich, deep pile of rugs with the play of light and
shade on its surface serves to bring the colors together.
Colors seem harsher and flatter in cotton cloth than in
silks or wools. The brilliancy of lustrous silk may not
be produced in wool, nor the richness of wool in linens.

Colors are greatly modified by others placed near
them. One color brings out the hue of its complemen-
tary in the other. If one looks at a red spot for a long
time and then looks at a white paper, a green spot, the
complementary of red, will appear on that paper. If
red is put next to blue, the blue will look greenish, be-
cause green is complementary to red, while the red will
look more orange, because orange is complementary to
blue. It will not be possible here to discuss the many
variations produced by this juxtaposition of colors.
Practice in combining colors will illustrate this point.

Skill in combination, unless one is a born colorist,
requires long study and practice. Study of successful

l82 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

color schemes, in rugs, pictures, fabrics, etc., is good
training. Nature is an excellent teacher, but it is always
well to remember that a brilliant touch of color with all
outdoors for a background might be very trying when
confined to the limitations of a room or of a costume.
The proportion in which colors are combined is of great
importance. When applying color and design in the
decoration of construction, definite limitations must be
recognized. For perfect harmony the small detail must
be governed by the demands of the larger result. Both
design and color must be subordinate to the whole effect
to be produced. In architecture the farther the carv-
ing is removed from the eye, the less minute the units
of its design. The size of the space to be ornamented
influences the proportions of the details which are to fill
that space. There are recognized positions for ornament,
and ornamentation by small details is not appropriate
for all parts of a building.

Certain colors are retiring in effect and may be used
when the effect of space is desired ; others advance and
serve to bring forward parts to be emphasized, or to
produce an impression of coziness.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

As stone and marble immediately place some limita-
tion upon the kind of design to be used for their em-
bellishment, so rugs and fabrics of various kinds place
restrictions upon the decorator. Although wonderful
machinery may weave practically any pattern which the
artist's fancy creates, the nature of the material to be
woven determines what kind of design is appropriate to

DESIGN AND COLOR 183

it. A dark, heavy fabric does not lend itself to delicate
details, nor a filmy material to heavy design.

Conventional forms are the outgrowth of the limita-
tion of materials. In picturing natural objects in bas-
ketry, the savage finds himself compelled to substitute
square forms for curved, because his reeds are coarse
and the lines of the weave are square. As the material
becomes finer the limitation is not so great, and as man
becomes more expert he finds it possible to develop more
and more elaborate designs in his weaving. The height
of perfection with the least conventionality is reached
in tapestries.

The use for which a fabric is intended finally deter-
mines the kind of design which shall decorate it. A
material which hangs in folds must have a different treat-
ment from one which lies flat. Cloth which is to be cut
in many pieces or broken by seams should not be covered
with large patterns. A fabric forming a background
must needs be quiet and retiring both in color and de-
sign, while that which serves purely as ornament may
be much more striking.

There are two distinct methods of producing design
in textile fabrics. In the one, the figure is woven into
the material in various colored threads or with differ-
ent weaves. In the other method, the design is stamped
in color on the threads of the cloth either before or after
weaving. There may be a combination of these two
methods in one fabric, as when a design is printed
on a cloth which has already been ornamented in the
weave.

Design formed by variation of weave may consist of

184 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

lines, stripes, checks, or figures of the same color as the
background. With the introduction of different colored
threads in warp and filling the possibilities of variation
become endless. The devices for varying weaves, for
alternating colors, become almost superhuman in the
Jacquard loom, and the results produced are marvels of
mechanical skill.

Printed designs are somewhat more limited in color,
although even here a wide range may be obtained. The
pattern used is restricted only by the limitations of wood
carving or copper engraving.

In fabrics used for clothing, the plain, unfigured cloth
is frequently most satisfying, lending itself well to
tucks, folds, and seams. The beauty of plain cloth,
however, depends for its charm entirely upon the tex-
ture. When the texture is not rich, lines, stripes, or
figures add interest. With the hard-twisted threads of
worsteds, if the surface is broken by diagonal twills,
almost invisible though they may be, pleasing results
are produced. Introduction of a little color in a hair
line or a cross marking leads to greater variation in
stripes, checks, and plaids. Variety thus gained adds in-
terest to dress and offers greater possibilities in color
combination. The dictates of good taste are to choose
from these stripes, checks, and plaids the inconspicuous
and those suited to the individual figure, leaving the
strangely peculiar styles to those whose chief claim to
distinction lies in the loudness of their clothes.

Figures in cloth, beginning with the simple dot, a
mere variation in weave, become more and more elab-
orate, growing into scrolls, flowers, bouquets, vines,

DESIGN AND COLOR 185

trees, finally landscapes and architectural representation.
Possibilities of great beauty are opened, and also abun-
dant opportunity for the exercise of poor taste. The
offerings of the market express well the status of public
taste. In contrast with the many really beautiful de-
signs exhibited in the best shops are found hundreds
of designs with nothing to commend them, unless it
be that they are "different."

As has been said design in clothing materials must
be much limited by the comparatively small surface to be
covered and by the lines of seams and folds which break
that surface. The richness of heavy silk may be in-
creased by a damask pattern in the same color, which
gives an added play of light and shade on the lustrous
threads. In this case the design may be quite large,
but not too complicated, as the figure is partly lost in
the luster of the surface. No other material offers equal
possibilities. Linen with the same sort of design gives
beautiful effects for table use, but is too stiff and un-
wieldy, when so ornamented, for beauty in clothing mate-
rial. Wool lends itself to such design only under ex-
ceptional conditions when the character of the fiber has
been altered by chemical treatment, and it is then too wiry
for clothing. Cotton has not that inherent beauty of
texture which makes damask designs excellent.

Soft cottons and silks are very attractive when
decorated with bouquets of flowers, even if these are
quite large ; a pleasing color effect is obtained, combined
with delicacy and gayety. The same pattern executed
in heavy materials would be most inappropriate, or in
dark tones would loose its charm. Simple all-over pat-

1 86 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

terns of the same color or closely related colors are
pleasing in different textures provided they are not too
large or too intricate. Oriental patterns, which are
combinations of geometric designs and conventionalized
natural forms, may be good on silk or more simply exe-
cuted on cottons.

The field of design in dress materials is therefore
limited to a few types, variation in weave, lines, stripes,
plaids, checks, more or less complicated spot designs,
and rather simple all-over designs being the most suitable
forms.

Another field for design in dress is that of acces-
sories, rather than of the dress as a whole. Here greater
possibilities lie before the designer. A band, a bit of
embroidery, or a medallion, to be used in small amount,
may be much bolder in treatment than the material from
which a whole garment is made. Stronger colors and
larger figures are permissible, and there is greater op-
portunity for the exercise of imagination and skill. The
main fabric of a garment must be rather conventional,
but the ornament need not be limited by such narrow
bounds. In these accessories of trimming, strength and
character of both color and design are required. If the
trimming is to add distinction to the dress it must have
qualities which make for distinction.

In the selection of house furnishing materials the
choice of design is much more varied. The surfaces to
be covered in rooms are larger, the effect as a whole is
less limited, and there is greater opportunity for skill in
combining colors and in design. Here again, if the best,
results are to be obtained limitations must be recognized.

DESIGN AND COLOR 1 87

Frequently because of the choice of large figures and
strong colors in wall paper a room is made to look small.
The design in a rug may seem to rise up and greet one
on entering a room. Confusion may be the result of too
many figured surfaces.

Each type of furnishing material imposes its limi-
tations on design. The hanging demands design that is
not spoiled by folds. Where a diagonal stripe would be
broken and would give an unpleasant effect, a vertical
or horizontal stripe would be successful. Figures which
break the surface and give variety of color but do not
depend on being seen in their entirety are more suc-
cessful than carefully developed designs which lose
their charm if partly hidden. Similarly, fabrics for up-
holstery may be much less definite in design, because
the surface is broken by buttons and the folds around
the buttons. Rather indefinite foliage patterns give
pleasing color variation and variety of surface, and are
not dependent on large spaces for a good result.

Wall coverings or fiat hangings have quite a differ-
ent purpose to fulfill. They must either form a back-
ground for pictures and furniture, or they must furnish
decoration. In case a background is desired, plain sur-
faces, two-toned designs, or simple, unobtrusive pat-
terns are most satisfying. The wall covering should be
of such nature that it will not dispute with the pictures
the right to be noticed. When decoration in a narrower
sense is demanded of this covering, it must possess some
real value as design or as pictorial art. In houses of
moderate means it is rarely possible to afford this latter
type of wall decoration. In screens, sofa cushions, couch

1 88 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

covers, and possibly in window hangings there is op-
portunity for expression of a love of the more unusual,
the gay and the bolder design, by a bit of Japanese
print, Oriental cotton, or gay English or French chintz.
If the pocketbook can aspire to embroideries, there are
many beautiful bits of imported silks and satins, ex-
quisitely worked, which add a tone of richness to an
interior.

The charm of Japanese designs lies largely in the
grace and motion which they are able to express in the
portrayal of the simplest objects, the fitness of their
designs to the object decorated, and their exquisite use
of color. In introducing Japanese designs into our
houses, we should always bear in mind that in their
native environment they are not crowded in with a
great many other things, but have space enough to be
appreciated.

The rug seems to furnish the most difficult problem
to American manufacturers. We have already departed
from the age of green dogs and purple cabbages in rugs,
and are now emerging from the age of pink roses.
The Persian and Turk have taught us that designs suit-
able for rugs must be of such a nature that they do not
thrust themselves on the attention at once, but give
variety of color and richness of surface without being
immediately evident. Geometric and highly conven-
tionalized forms in not too large units are desirable.
Considerable variety in the design in order that the units
need not be repeated at too frequent intervals produces
a more pleasing result than constant repetition. Certain
makes of rugs are limited in design by the mechanism

DESIGN AND COLOR 189

of their weaving, but the better grades have practically
no such limitation.

It has taken a long time to begin to teach the lesson
of good taste in rug design, and the fact that it is now
being appreciated is probably due to the great popu-
larity of Oriental rugs. The design of these rugs may
be copied by machines (although it becomes too perfect
in the copying), but the lesson of color is still to be
learned from these magic rug makers.

The subject of color and design offers a most attrac-
tive field for study, and one which is ever present.
Observation of birds, trees, flowers, and other natural
objects is a pleasure, and affords endless suggestions of
form and color which may be adapted to decoration.
Simplicity is a good watchword, for over-decoration
has been a failing of the age.

REFERENCES

Batchelder, Ernest A. Principles of Design.
Ross, Denman W. A Theory of Pure Design.
Ward, James. Colour Harmony and Contrasts.

CHAPTER XII

LABOR CONDITIONS AND EFFORTS TO
IMPROVE THEM

THE United States Government is publishing a re-
port of nineteen volumes on the condition of
woman and child wage-earners in the United States.
The size of this report suggests the vastness of the
labor problems of the present day. The textile indus-
try, aside from being one of the greatest manufactur-
ing industries, employs a large percentage of woman
and child laborers. A study of textiles would therefore
be incomplete which did not at least touch upon the
problems of these laborers and tell of some of the reforms
which have been or are now being accomplished.

Ever since the development of the modern factory
system it is the women and children who have been
least protected and who have suffered most from the
system. Unorganized, without a voice in the making of
laws, physically at a disadvantage, they have been able
to do little for themselves. Labor unions and power in
legislation have been able to demand certain rights for
men, but even they have not accomplished all things, as
is shown by the prevalence of strikes and the fact that
we have a "submerged tenth" in our population. It
remains for the twentieth century to realize more fully
that the people as a whole, the community, the state, and
the nation, must protect the working man, woman, and

190

LABOR CONDITIONS 191

child, and through them protect the future citizenship
of the country.

Investigation of the problem shows that it concerns
not merely the age at which the law shall allow a child
to work, but where, when, and under what conditions
the child, the woman, or even the man shall work. What
wage shall the worker receive? what protection from
machines? how many hours a day? If the child is shut
out from the mill, how much time must he spend at
school and what shall the school teach him? These are
a few of the questions which have arisen. To under-
stand them it is necessary to have some appreciation of
conditions. Although the old systems of hand industry
abroad often meant poverty, filth, disease, and all sorts
of human suffering, in some respects the modern factory
system has made conditions worse. There have been
added the congestion of population in tenements and
•the never ending routine of highly specialized work for
the individual, the nerve-racking noise of the factory
and the terrible rush of competition. The possibilities
of machinery are boundless, but if machinery is to do
the greatest good for the human race it must not be
at the expense of the bodies and souls of the human
beings who tend the machines.

In Europe and in America the factory system in a
simple form came into existence long before the inven-
tion of machinery. In England, after the Flemish
weavers had introduced fine weaving in the time of
Henry I, these weavers lived and worked together in
communities. Guilds had their beginning before the
Norman conquest and flourished all through the Middle

192 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Ages. They were organizations of different trades, and
became very powerful. They controlled industries, regu-
lated prices and wages, and frequently took the initiative
in suggesting laws for the benefit of trade. The craft
guilds protected the workman and the interests of the
various crafts, much as the trade unions protect the inter-
ests of the workingman today. Often there was bitter
feeling between guild members and non-members. So
restrictive had the power of guilds become by the time
of Henry VIII that they then began a rapid decline.

The wealthiest manufacturer of this time was said
to have had a hundred looms, but very few improve-
ments had been introduced in the methods of manu-
facture. The introduction of improvements from abroad
was strongly opposed, the protection of home indus-
tries and hand labor being intense. Laws limited the
size of the flocks one might own, the amount of time
which it took to tan leather was not allowed to be less-
ened, and many other similar regulations existed. While
the living conditions of those who spun and wove were
frequently very miserable, it was not at all uncommon
for a laborer to rise to be a successful merchant and
become a knight of trade. In the reign of Elizabeth
conditions were better in England than in surrounding
countries. The eighteenth century brought in the use
of machinery and revolutionized methods. By 1812 and
1813 in England the introduction of machinery, together
with continual wars, had brought about terrible suffer-
ing among the laborers. Doubtless the factory system
alone would have done much, for the English capitalists
saw here increased opportunity for becoming rich.

LABOR CONDITIONS IQ3

"The factory system that was then established com-
pletely changed English industrial methods; the workers
were huddled together in unhealthy factories, compelled
to work from early morn till late at night, and, what
was the worst feature of the system, young children of
tender years were set to toil in the mills under such hard
and repellent conditions that their constitutions were
undermined, and a race of working people grew up
stunted in body and weak of constitution. So bad had
things become that, in 1802, an act was passed for the
benefit of the 'health and morals' of apprentices and
others employed in mills, and the hours of work were
reduced to twelve per day." *

This law of 1802 related to cotton mills and was the
first factory act. The abolition of slaves in 1807 freed
the negro, but the slavery of the factory worker was
not broken for many years. In 1847 the Ten Hours
Bill, which was debated for fourteen years before it
could be passed, became a law, and since that time leg-
islation in England has advanced continually.

Factory legislation in this country came much later,
partly because factories were not erected so early here
and bad conditions did not develop so rapidly. The
long struggle for legislation and the attitude towards
these problems may be better understood if we trace
briefly the development of this field of labor for women
and children in the United States. In the early days
women had a place in the home which demanded all
their attention. Children as well as grown women helped
with the spinning and the many other household tasks.

1 Burnley, James. The Story of British Trade and Industry.

194 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

The chief manufacturing industries of the colonies for
many years were those carried on in the home, and
women had comparatively little place in outside indus-
tries. A few were employed in shops, some in taverns,
some in business enterprises, but the majority of those
who had not a home of their own went out to service,
and thus were employed in the industries of another
household. The attitude of the early New England col-
onists towards women and children was very severe.
They were not permitted to be idle, if they were poor,
but were forced by public opinion and by law to do some-
thing for a livelihood. Children were bound out as ap-
prentices. This meant to girls about the same thing as
being bound out to household service, since the trades
they learned were spinning and weaving and other house-
hold industries. The United States was much slower
than England in developing power machinery. There
was a long period during which spinning and weaving
had in part gone out of the home, yet the later factory
system had not come. In the cities societies "for the
Promotion of Industry" were organized under private
or public management. From these centers work in
spinning was given out to women at home or at the
manufactory. In some establishments many looms were
operated; in others the yarn was sold for home weav-
ing or to other factories. Thus, employment might be
given to a whole community, or to the almshouses,
and the poor kept busy. This was the first step in the
great movement of women from the home to the fac-
tory. Small children from eight years up were em-
ployed in these establishments, and it was considered

LABOR CONDITIONS IQ5

an excellent thing that children could thus be kept from
idleness.

With the development of power machines and great
factories for spinning and weaving, and later for gar-
ment making and the food industries, it was natural that
women should follow the industry from the home and
take their place in the mills.

The conditions under which women worked in the
early days of power machinery were little better than
they are today, for the commercial spirit developed early ;
but the attitude of women toward the conditions was
very different, and the class of workers was different.
Many women were in industry temporarily, to earn
money to go to college or to earn spending money. The
great rush of modern competition had not begun, and
the factory town with all its squalor and ugliness had
not developed. The century which has passed since has
added these and has given a different face to the problem.

Factories grew much faster than laws for their
regulation. The increase of child labor was so great
that the results were soon visible in stunted adults; and
yet long hours and night work for children, preventing
proper physical and mental development and instilling
in the minds of the children low morals, have been
allowed for more than a hundred years by so-called
highly civilized nations.

Crowded factories, with unprotected machinery, have
meant death or the maiming for life of many thousands
of men, women, and children. Bad sanitary condi-
tions cause not only physical harm, but often moral
degeneration.

196 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Rapid immigration into America has helped to pro-
duce a system of manufacture which has been called a
disgrace to the nation. The press of competition led
men to employ these newly arrived immigrants at the
lowest wages, herd them together in cheap workrooms,
and work them long hours. As competition increased,
it was found that money could be saved by letting these
people take the work to their own homes, if homes they
might be called. In the dark, foul rooms of the tene-
ments, the sick and those too young to go to the factory
might work at starvation wages, sometimes infecting
the garments they were making with the germs of ter-
rible diseases. Meanwhile the purse of the manu-
facturer grew fatter and fatter. Thus the sweat shop
system grew and increased, and thus it still exists.

One might write on and on, of conditions around
factories, of the hovels in towns and villages where
workmen and their families are huddled together in filth,
without a tree or a blade of grass, with not even fit
water to drink, and with the very air they breathe made
poisonous by the gases of hundreds of chimneys. Low
wages, fire traps in which to work, no schools because
the children must work long hours, all these things grind
down the lives of men, women, and children who are the
producers of the world.

Not only among producers have these bad conditions
existed, but among distributers as well. It was the con-
dition of women in the shops which first aroused the
united action of women in New York City. There again,
long hours, low wages, bad sanitary conditions, no pro-
vision for chance rest during working hours, no rest

LABOR CONDITIONS 197

rooms, no decent places for lunch, inhumane treatment
from employers, and the employment of child labor
were the most striking evils.

That all of the conditions mentioned exist today in
factory and in shop, in one place or another, is a well
recognized fact, but the fact that they have been im-
proved in many cases is also recognized. The first leg-
islation in this country to regulate labor in factories was
, an act passed in Massachusetts in 1842 prohibiting the
employment of children under twelve years of age for
more than ten hours a day. In 1848 Pennsylvania passed
a law forbidding children under twelve to work in cotton,
woolen, silk, and flax industries ; in 1849 this was made
to include bagging and paper industries, and the age
limit was raised to thirteen years.

Prior to 1860 hours of labor for children in in-
dustry were reduced in the states of Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Ohio to ten a day. The age limit differed in these dif-
ferent states. At the same time laws were also passed
in these states and in Connecticut requiring a certain
amount of schooling. Usually the law required three
months out of twelve, but varied in different states in
regard to length of time required and the age of the
child. At first there was no provision for the enforce-
ment of these laws, no factory inspection, and no re-
quirement as to proof of a child's age was made. Con-
sequently the laws amounted to very little.

Gradually, however, there has developed a sentiment
for better conditions, which has slowly increased in-
spection and regulation, vitalized compulsory educa-

198 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

tion, and changed the attitude of legislators towards
these things. It was not until 1898, however, that the
first law placing the age limit for child labor at four-
teen years was passed, and even that limit has not yet
been reached by many states.

There have been a number of forces working to bring
about this legislation and to improve methods of in-
spection and enforcement. Great numbers of statistics
have been collected to show the effects of long hours,
poor wages, and unsanitary conditions, and volumes
have been written on the subject. Public lectures, free
literature, and various methods of interesting the general
public have been tried, and yet progress is slow. General
enlightenment in regard to sanitation and hygiene has car-
ried a demand for better conditions in all public places.
The development of the educational system, with its com-
pulsory education laws and its truant officers, has taken
many children from the factory. Changed methods in
the schools, the introduction of new subjects, as manual
training, have given an added interest and kept the chil-
dren in the schools for a longer time. It has been found
that factory laws do little good unless there is factory
inspection also, and this has been greatly increased.

Not all betterment of conditions has come from the
outside, however. In many cases, realizing that better
work results from good conditions, the factory owners
themselves have improved their work rooms, provided
good homes, libraries, gymnasiums, club houses, and
other comforts for their employees, expressing at the same
time a sense of their responsibility toward those less
fortunate than themselves.

LABOR CONDITIONS 199

Conditions of factories, child labor, low wages, long
hours, and bad moral influence are deplored by most
enlightened people, but deploring bad conditions does
not remedy them. In recent years many organizations
have sprung up for united effort of one sort or another
to bring about certain ends. One of the most potent
agencies for improvement in working conditions has
been the National Consumers' League. The outgrowth
of the formation in New York, in 1890, of a group of
intelligent women who sought to reform conditions in
retail stores has become a nation-wide movement work-
ing in many fields. In 1898 the organization was incor-
porated as the New York City Consumers' League. In
1899 the National Consumers' League was founded, and
it was incorporated in 1902. The purpose of the League
is to educate the consumer to find out the conditions
under which the product is manufactured in order that
he or she may be protected, and at the same time that
the conditions of working women and other employees
may be improved.

To many people the problem of buying means merely
getting the worth of one's money in the thing purchased.
This money's worth may be in wearing quality, in color,
design, texture, in fashion or fad, according to the needs
and the demands of the individual buyer. The knowl-
edge that diseases may be carried through ready-made
clothing has put another responsibility upon the family
provider, who must now see to it that she does not buy
tuberculosis, smallpox, or any other dread disease along
with the garment she purchases. The laws of economics
teach that demand determines supply, that each person

2OO HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

who buys does just so much towards setting the stand-
ards for good or poor supply. The manufacturer must
meet the public demand, not only in kind of material,
but in price. In the effort to produce cheap material,
cheap labor is employed, conditions of work are poor,
and work is sent out to places where it may be done more
cheaply. The buyer can insist that what she buys is not
contaminated with disease germs and does not represent
the life blood of the poor. The intelligent women of the
future must realize this responsibility.

The New York Consumers' League, with this truth
in mind, began its work, not with the factory, the center
of production, but with the retail store, the center of
distribution. The store was more within reach of the
shopping public. From the store the League went to
the factory.

The National Consumers' League has expanded from
year to year. The field covered by its efforts has in-
creased. It has endeavored to improve conditions in
stores, tailors' shops, ready-made clothing and other fac-
tories ; has worked for pure food laws, for sanitary
handling of goods, for child labor legislation, for laws
regulating women's labor, for the abolition of sweat
shops, and for many other things. An organization of
this sort, which has no direct power to make laws, must
work in a scientific way to accomplish any great re-
sults. Investigation of conditions and the accumulation
of facts are first necessary; after this, intelligent inter-
pretation of these facts, publication of results, and the
arousing of public interest aid in bringing about legis-
lation.

LABOR CONDITIONS 2OI

When the Consumers' League began its work there
were in many states laws regulating factories and other
industries, but these laws were often inadequate and
were not enforced. The lack of factory inspection so
evident today was much more evident fifteen years ago.
While some states were enacting excellent laws, many had
done nothing at all.

Through the efforts of organizations and individuals
matters have been much improved and excellent legis-
lation has been passed in all parts of the country, but
the work is only begun. < Laws are not at all uniform
in different states, which complicates the situation.
The press of competition makes it extremely difficult
for one factory to live up to high standards when a
factory in a neighboring state is paying low wages,
working long hours, and employing child labor. The
American Bar Association has recently given a great
deal of attention to the securing of uniform state laws
of various kinds.

One method by which the Consumers' League has put
a premium on the best factory conditions is by giving
to the manufacturer who lives up to certain standards
a label to be attached to his goods. The label provided
by the League, and pictured here, insures to the buyer
that goods so marked fulfill the following requirements :

1. Clean and safe workrooms with good sanitary
conditions.

2. No child labor.

3. No work outside the factories.

4. Proper working hours.

Those who insist on buying goods marked with the

2O2 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Consumers' League label protect themselves and their
families from the danger of buying garments made
in filthy homes and by diseased workers. They protect
the worker from unlimited hours of work and from the
lowest possible wages. They insure against the labor of
little children and decrease the danger from tuberculosis.

This label is granted only after careful inspection,
and its use means continued inspection by the Consumers'
League.

Up to the present time the label has been limited to
women's cotton underwear, wrappers, cotton dresses, and

FIG. 43. — CONSUMERS' LEAGUE LABEL

a few other ready-made garments. These seemed to be
the best lines to begin on, partly because so many women
are employed in making them. As funds are available,
and as it is feasible, other kinds of garments will be
included.

In some states the League has a list of approved
tailors. The requirements are much the same as those
for factories. The work, with the exception of embroid-
ery, is all to be done on the premises or in approved
workshops, the requirements of factory inspectors must
be met, and the conditions of the workrooms must be
fair.

One of the best results accomplished by the League
is that many merchants have learned that it is economy

LABOR CONDITIONS 203

to treat employees humanely, to pay living wages, to give
vacations on pay, to give Saturday afternoon holidays,
and to provide decent rest and lunch rooms. The shop
girl who has these things done for her sells more goods
than the girl who is worked long hours and has no chance
for rest.

The Consumers' League has a White List, in which
the names of all stores and factories which come up to
the requirements of the League are printed. These
requirements are as follows :

I. Wages :

1. Equal value to receive equal pay regardless of

sex.

2. No saleswoman over eighteen years of age to

receive less than $6.00 a week.

3. WTages paid by the week.

4. Minimum payment to each child $2.50 per

week.

II Hours:

8.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. Three- fourths hour for

noonday lunch, one half holiday per week

during two summer months.
Vacation of one summer week on pay.
All overtime compensated.
Wages paid and premises closed for five legal

holidays.

ITT. Physical conditions:

Lunch and retiring rooms apart.
Sanitary conditions.
Seats for saleswomen.

2O4 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

IV. Other conditions :

Humane treatment of employees.

Length of service compensated.

No children under fourteen years employed.

No children under sixteen years employed for

more than nine hours per day.
These children from fourteen to sixteen years
shall have employment certificates from Board
of Health.

All city ordinances and state laws must be obeyed.
The League wishes to make it a good advertisement
for a store to be on the White List or to carry a large
stock of Consumers' League labeled goods. It is hoped
that people will buy at the stores which are so advanced.
If the public would learn to demand these things the
manufacturers would soon come up to the requirements.
Although the list of factories and stores complying
with all the requirements of the Consumers' League
seems small, it grows year by year, and there are many
other concerns which fail to meet the requirements only
in small ways.

One of the requirements of the League, which ex-
cludes many stores from its White List, is in regard to
uncompensated overtime at the Christmas season. "Only
the long, slow process of public education will remove
the custom whereby thousands of young girls and women
are compelled every holiday season to give their employ-
ers from thirty to forty hours of uncompensated labor."
Much literature has been published advocating early
Christmas and early afternoon shopping. These ap-
peals in the papers, by posters and by many other means

LABOR CONDITIONS 2O5

have brought about a little more thoughtfulness in these
matters.

Investigation into the working and living conditions
of women in factories has led to many results. A strong
body of women has been formed who demand legislation
and have succeeded in obtaining it. The development
of legislation regulating the number of hours of work
for women has been most encouraging since the Su-
preme Court of the United States, in 1908, asserted the
right of states to limit the hours of labor. In Oregon,
Illinois, and Michigan there have been epoch-making
decisions in cases where the law limiting hours of labor
was declared unconstitutional by a lower court and the
decision reversed by the Supreme Court. These deci-
sions have paved the way for similar laws in other states.

At present one of the most important investigations
carried on by the Consumers' League is in relation to
the minimum wage problem. The work of the special
committee "has been directed toward two ends: (i)
Agreement upon a legislative program adapted to the
peculiar American conditions; (2) publicity for the
proposal to establish minimum wage boards." ^ —

The limits of this chapter do not permit a longer
discussion of the far-reaching work of this organization.
Full reports and articles may be obtained from other
sources.

The National Child Labor Committee, organized in
New York in 1904 by a number of representative citi-
zens from different parts of the country, is a force which
is making itself felt in child labor legislation. This
committee investigates facts regarding child labor, en-

2C>6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

deavors to raise the standard of public opinion and
parental responsibility, and assists in protecting children
by suitable legislation.

It is now practically agreed that a humane child
labor law shall provide the following:

A fourteen years limit, below which children are
not to be employed.

Regulation of work of children below sixteen years,
including :

Prohibition of night work,
Shortening of hours by day,

Protection against dangerous machinery and un-
sanitary or immoral conditions.

There should also be compulsory school requirements,
and there is necessity for inspection and enforcement of
these laws. A few states have reached this high standard ;
most have not.

In April, 1912, Congress passed an act creating a
Federal Child Bureau which shall collect statistics re-
garding children and conduct a thorough study of all
sorts of child problems. From this center information
will be disseminated to all who need it. The National
Child Labor Committee worked very hard for this bill.

With the growth of the public health movement
additional agencies are working for an enlightened
attitude toward many great national problems. The study
of preventive medicine has led to housing reforms, better
sanitary conditions in public buildings of all kinds, the
abolition of the public drinking cup, and the investiga-
tion of water supplies. The great need is for education
in order that the public may come to know that these

LABOR CONDITIONS 2O/

things must be. The slowness of legislatures in passing
laws merely reflects the attitude of the people as a whole.
Long and tireless effort must be put forth by the
enlightened men and women of the country in the future
as it has been in the past New ways of spreading in-
formation are ever arising, more and more scientific
methods of investigating and solving these great prob-
lems are appearing as the thoughtful men and women
of the country give their lives to the cause of race im-
provement. It is no longer a question of charity, to ease
one's conscience, or even for the sake of the poor alone.
The problem of the less fortunate becomes the problem
of the whole nation.

REFERENCES

United States Bureau of Labor. Report on Condition
of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United
States. 1910 —

National Consumers' League Reports.
Supplements to Annals of American Academy of Polit-
ical and Social Science on

National Consumers' League.
Child Workers of the Nation.

CHAPTER XIII
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

THE introduction of machinery for the manufacture
of almost all articles necessary to satisfy human
needs and desires began an era of decline in the beauty
and the honesty of useful things. Painting and sculpture
rapidly came to be considered the only real art, and
it seemed that before long nothing else would be worthy
the name. Textile fabrics, house furnishings, the tools
of man, and public buildings alike became more and
more marked with the term machine-made. Individual-
ity was lost, while over-decoration, sameness, and use-
lessness were growing factors. In the second half of
the last century, a group of English artists more far-
sighted than their contemporaries became alarmed at
the state of affairs and set out to awaken men to a
realization of what was happening.

This group of men saw that, unless a reaction took
place, machinery would destroy all art in every-day
things, flood homes with unartistic bric-a-brac and cities
with ugly ornamentation, and cost would be the criterion
by which all things would be judged. The whole ten-
dency of the system seemed to be toward ugliness rather
than toward beauty. In searching for an understanding
and a remedy for these conditions they turned back to
mediaeval times, to a period entirely different from the
one in which they lived. Here they sought the secret

208

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 2OO,

of beauty in every-day things. They found that when
handicrafts were at their best in the Middle Ages the
simplest tools and household articles, while often clumsy,
were honest in construction and frequently marked in
their beauty. The individuality of the worker was ex-
pressed in his products and the nature of the material
was respected.

As machinery increased the output and made cheaper
and cheaper products, honesty of material became more
rare, the individuality of the workman was lost, and fad
and novelty were replacing real artistic merit. The very
fact that ornament could be produced cheaply led to
great profusion of it, and over-decoration of all kinds
resulted. Machinery was doing away with the crafts-
man, and man was forgetting how to make things with
his hands.

Out of this period of degeneracy in useful arts the
voice of Carlyle in England came as the first warning
which set men to thinking. Believing thoroughly in the
value of work and the effect of honest labor and honest
production upon the character of man, he deplored the
state of the manufactures of his time. He pronounced the
goods of his day " cheap and nasty" and "tainted with
the spirit of Mammon." "If I want an article," he said,
"let it be genuine at whatever price; if the price is too
high for me, I will go without it ; unequipped for the
present, I shall not have equipped myself with hypoc-
risy at any rate."

Carlyle preached the doctrine of work, the education
of men to do things, and to do them honestly. He did
not by practice attempt to alter the methods of the times,

2IO HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

but his writings inspired others. He saw that the old
era had passed, when men could stand idle, and that a
new industrial era had arrived, in which work was to
be the chief duty of man.

Ruskin, following after Carlyle, was influenced by
his writings. A man of wide interests and studies, he
was a socialist and much dissatisfied with the existing
order of things. He saw that art was getting far away
from nature and was becoming degraded. He deplored
the fact that art and the crafts were so far separated in
the new system of machine production.

Believing that great art is produced only out of pure
national faith and domestic virtue, and that artists must
be workmen and workmen artists, he saw that the social
problem must be the point of attack. If workmen are
to be artists, they must have the education, the surround-
ings, and the happiness which will enable them to pro-
duce beautiful things. The true test of art, he consid-
ered, should be its serviceability to social needs. It must
be universal and lowly. Not only should art be the
product of all men, but it should serve all men. The
office of machinery, according to Ruskin's ideas, must
be to do things for man, to relieve him of drudgery and
debasing work, but artistic work must be the work of
the hand. He saw that minute division of labor was
deadly to the workman and to the product. Though
there was an increase in quantity produced, there was a
decrease in quality.

Ruskin believed that every man must work to be
happy, but he says : " In order that people may be happy
in their work, three things are needed; they must be fit

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 211

for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must
have a sense of success in it." The reward for work
was to be not in the money received for it, but in the
satisfaction of having done well. He believed that
through education reform would come.

A man of great genius, an artist, and a writer on
many and diverse subjects, it is easy to forget that sociol-
ogy was perhaps Ruskin's chief interest and that he
hoped to achieve social reform through industrial reform.
He approached the subject from so many sides one does
not always realize that the social problem was the one
at which he worked hardest. Ruskin went beyond Car-
lyle in that he put some of his theories into practice and
spent a large part of his fortune on his schemes.

The revival of home industries, where workers might
"engage in some useful craft under wholesome and
humane conditions," was one of his ideas. Home indus-
tries were to exist side by side with the factories, not to
supplant them. Some of these industries were started
by him and still flourish. In the Isle of Man and in
"Westmoreland he revived spinning and weaving and
encouraged handwork among the cottagers. This work
has proved not only pleasurable but profitable, and some
very excellent products have resulted from his beginnings.

In 1848, at Oxford University, there was formed a
society of painters, sculptors, and writers, the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood. These men were destined to
have a great influence on art and literature. Their chief
doctrine was a fidelity to nature and a sincerity in prac-
tical work. Their influence was to be felt later in useful
as well as in fine arts.

212 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

A few years after- this Pre-Raphaelite group was
formed at Oxford, William Morris and Edward Burne-
Jones came as students to train for the ministry. In-
spired by Carlyle and Ruskin, these two and a few other
fellow-students read, discussed, and thought. They also
worked and wrote. The profession for which they had
begun to train was forgotten and they set about to be-
come artists, not artists merely in the sense of painting
pictures, but in a more general sense.

In the field of art in textiles and house furnishings,
Morris has been most influential, although inspired and
aided for -years by Rossetti, Burne- Jones, and others.
The extent of Morris's work was marvelous. It has
been said that he accomplished more than seven ordinary
men.

Beginning as poet and painter, he studied archi-
tecture at Oxford. On going up to London he deplored
the condition of the houses of the period. When he
found it impossible to buy any furniture that he would
have in his rooms, he had some made from his own de-
signs. When the furniture was built, Rossetti painted
the panels for him. The result was rather mediaeval,
but was a start in the direction of better lines and greater
usefulness.

Later, when he was to be married and wished a
house to live in, he found he must build the house and
everything which was to go into it, so impossible was
it to satisfy his artistic taste with the degraded deco-
ration of the English market. Red House, as he called
his home, opened a new era in house decoration. Ap-
preciating the facts that a house is built for the needs

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 213

of the owner and that the individuality of the owner
may be expressed therein, every bit of construction,
decoration, and furnishing was carefully worked out
in order that Red House might be truly his own.
Although Philip Webb was the architect, through the
work of decoration and furnishing Morris first showed
his wonderful skill as a workman. In whatever medium
he was moved to work, he proved himself master.
Wood, glass, plaster, clay, leather, textile fabrics, and
wall paper, all had their turn. Bookbinding or tapestry
weaving, he put his whole heart and soul into the work,
and his results were wonderful.

In 1861, as a result of their cooperation in Red
House, Morris and his fellow-artists established the
firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, Decora-
tive Artists. Associated with the firm were Rossetti, Ford
Madox Brown, Burne -Jones, Philip Webb, and others.
They advertised to do work in glass, wood or stone
carving, pottery, metals, embroidery, and furniture.
At first an experiment in a new line, the work of the
firm soon became known, and their beautiful windows,
tiles, etc., gained a place in the best churches and
private houses of the time.

Later, interested in producing beautiful prints on
cloth or on wall papers and in reviving the tapestry and
rug weaving industries, workshops were established in
London and then at Merton Abbey, where hand weav-
ing, dyeing, and printing were carried on. The Merton
Abbey workshops had the advantage of abundance of
sunlight, fresh air, and beautiful country environment,
excellent attributes for the production of artistic work.

214 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

The whole spirit of Morris's works and writings em-
phasized the necessity of better conditions for the work-
man, higher ideals for the product, and the existence of
beauty in the most commonplace things. Sham work
he believed to be hurtful to the buyer, more hurtful to
the seller, but most hurtful to the maker. He felt that
the age of machinery had brought the competition of
cheapness rather than of excellence, that a great change
must take place in the public attitude toward art and
industry, and that the two must be more united if the
hideousness of the age was to be at all lessened.

The whole life of Morris, the study of his writings
and his work, is an inspiration to all those who are in-
terested in making the world more beautiful, in raising
the standards of art in every-day life, and in bettering
the conditions of the worker. There have been few
men who have accomplished such a mass of work in a
lifetime, few who have left their impression on so
many fields of human effort. He was a poet, story-
writer, essayist, socialist, printer, bookbinder, illustrator,
painter, designer, carver, potter, weaver, dyer, leather
worker, embroiderer, glass worker, and metal worker.
How many men could add as many trades to their
name ? The most wonderful part of it all is that Morris
was skilled in each. He has been the inspiration for the
best that has been done in decorative art for nearly a
half century, the force that set England, America, and
most of Europe thinking and turned the tide of the fast
disappearing handcrafts.

The Arts and Crafts movement in England and
America is one outgrowth of this new interest in ap-

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 215

plied arts. In the minds of many, Arts and Crafts means
merely shops where hand-made articles are offered for
sale, or it may be the name brings to mind a type of
ornament represented by the severely plain, straight-
line candlestick or writing set, the stenciled crash table-
runner or pillow top, the simple rag rug, etc. The
movement has sometimes come into disrepute because
it has been judged solely by these things, which in some
cases have little or no real artistic value.

A true understanding of the significance of the
movement requires some investigation into the broad
field of its work. As the name implies, Arts and Crafts
is an effort to associate art and industry; not an effort
to do away with machinery, but rather to encourage
individual expression in the craftsman's work and to
bring beauty into the every-day things of life. It is an
outgrowth of the effort to draw away from the bad
designs, over-ornamentation, and poor workmanship of
the factory age, and to return to simplicity and beauty
in workmanship.

Realizing that the expression of art is not restricted
to painting and sculpture, the effort is made to bring
truly beautiful furnishings into the homes' of all, and
to create the desire for the beautiful and useful, rather
than for the over-ornate and useless. By thus creating
a demand for the artistic, the workman who can make
beautiful things will be given an opportunity to express
himself in truly individual work. There are many peo-
ple who have not the great genius necessary to produce
wonderful paintings, but whose skill might find expres-
sion in the lesser arts. These men who know and are

2l6 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

true to the material, the construction, and the tool find
pleasure in work, and the thing produced is its own
inspiration and its own reward. Yet we all must live,
and there must be sufficient money compensation for our
work.

If hand-made articles produced under the desired
conditions are to command a good price, the public in
general must be educated to appreciate the value of
honest workmanship, to appreciate beautiful materials
and simplicity, and to demand the few things, excellent,
rather than the many, poor in quality. Therefore a
movement such as we are considering must educate not
only the worker, but the public as well. The buyer must
be able to distinguish the good from the bad. Not all
handwork is good, although in the fad for such work
anything hand-made is prized by many.

In its development, the Arts and Crafts movement
has worked along various lines. In England there are
several methods of expression, among which are the
production of works of art craftsmanship by individuals,
by schools and lectures, by communities, by exhibitions
and museums. Village industries have been developed
in which weaving, pottery, metal, leather, and other
handwork is carried on. Museums in connection with
these industries furnish inspiration, and shops in the
village or in a near-by city provide a market for the
product. Exhibitions and lectures arouse public interest,
aid in forming a demand for the Arts and Crafts
products, and tend to elevate the public taste in house
furnishing.

In America the English example has been followed.

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

The Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876,
aroused the American artistic world to the utter lack

FIG. 44. — A. SWEDISH HAND-WOVEN LINEN
B. HAND-WOVEN LINEN FROM AN ENGLISH VILLAGE WORKSHOP

of crafts work produced in this country. By 1893, at the
Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it was possible to
gather a fair collection illustrative of industrial art, and

2l8 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

the situation seemed more encouraging. These and the
later expositions at Buffalo and St. Louis aided in
creating a sentiment for beauty in all lines of decorative
and applied arts as well as in the fine arts. In 1897, in-
spired by William Morris and his English followers, the
Boston Society of Arts and Crafts was organized. The
first organization of its kind formed in this country, its
purpose was and is "to develop and encourage higher
artistic standards in the handicrafts." The membership
of the Boston society embraces not only those practicing
some branch of decorative art, "Craftsmen" or "Mas-
ters," but also "Associates," those interested in the work,
but not necessarily designers or crafts workers. A shop
is maintained in which all articles for sale must have
been approved by a jury. It is proving a financial suc-
cess as well as a place that attracts those who desire
beautiful objects not made by wholesale.

Other societies, following the same general scheme
as that of Boston, have been founded in different cities,
and shops more or less successful have been established
all over the country. As might be expected, the standard
of excellence is not always upheld. Amateurs, without
a thorough training in design, have rushed into the work,
and many of their products are not worthy of approval.
Yet there is a distinctive quality about the articles found
in such shops which attracts the thoughtful and artistic
public.

These clubs, societies, and shops are but one. branch
of the movement. They provide a market for the handi-
craft worker, and, the best of them at least, assure the
purchaser that he is getting honest wares. The criticism

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

is often made that the prices for these wares are too
high, but he who buys may have the satisfaction of
knowing not only that his purchase will be durable, but
also that the man who made it is receiving something
more than starvation wages.

Village industries have been started in this country,
after the example set by the English. The crafts car-
ried on are often revivals of old industries flourishing
before the factory system crowded out all handwork.
Old looms and old designs are brought out of attics,
and under the guidance of trained hands, beautiful rugs,
towels, coverlets, and many other articles are produced.
Close to nature, with nature's inspiration, and under
most favorable conditions, these crafts are carried on.

Deerfield, Massachusetts, is perhaps the most famous
of the village industries. Here wood carving, metal
work, pottery, weaving of many kinds, embroidery, and
other crafts flourish, and the demand for the products
always exceeds the supply. The sleepy New England
village has been awakened to a new prosperity, worthy
of its fine old homes and beautiful streets.

In mountain communities of Kentucky, Tennessee,
the Carolinas and New Hampshire, old crafts which had
almost disappeared have been nourished and given new
life, and delightful products of the loom, also pottery
and baskets, find their way into our homes through the
Arts and Crafts shops. This development of the moun-
tain industries has meant a broadening of the lives of
the mountain people, has brought them in contact with
the outside world, of which they know but little, and
has added to their meager incomes. At Berea College

22O HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

in Kentucky, which is a center for the mountain indus-
tries, a carefully woven blue and white "kiver" or cover-
let often pays part of the school bill of a mountain boy
or girl.

Rag rugs, hooked or woven, bedspreads, wonderful
linens and cottons from these remote districts have
added interesting possibilities to house furnishings.

Not only in the remote parts of our country may
these old industries be found dormant, but in the heart
of the most crowded parts of our cities as well. Many
of the foreigners who come to us have great skill in
handcrafts, but have no opportunity to make use of
this skill. They must earn a living, and they have not
the opportunity to earn it through this sort of work.
At some of the social centers in the large cities oppor-
tunity has been given for men or women to work at
those crafts in which they are skilled. Hull House in
Chicago, for example, has looms and wheels on which
these foreigners may spin and weave, and the exhibitions
held show the products to be well worth encouragement.
Lace making and embroidery by foreign girls have been
developed in some cases, and the skill and artistic ability
discovered are sometimes remarkable.

A different sort of community work has been de-
veloped by the Roycrofters in East Aurora, New York.
Though more fully developed here, the idea is the same.
A band of workers is collected under pleasant living con-
ditions, working cooperatively. Each individual is given
opportunity for the best expression of his ideas in the
production of beautiful objects. The Roycrofters are
best known for their bookbinding, which was the first

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 221

undertaking ; but later cabinet work, clay modeling, terra
cotta work, and ornamental black printing have been
developed.

The Stickley United Crafts in Syracuse, New York,
do cabinet making, furniture, leather, metal, glass work
and textiles, and also publish The Craftsman magazine.
The "Craftsman houses" mission furniture and hang-
ings, metal work and ornaments adapted to these houses,
have been their chief work.

A number of potteries have sprung up in recent years,
with simplicity, beauty in color and texture, and appro-
priateness of decoration, true Arts and Crafts principles,
as their guiding rules. The Rookwood Pottery, which
was the first, has grown into a large business enterprise,
still true, however, to its original ideals and increasing
the beauty of its products yearly. Grueby, Teco, Dedham,
and other potteries are outgrowths of the same move-
ment. Newcomb College in New Orleans has combined
the school and the workshop in its art department, and
produces beautiful needlework, textile fabrics, pottery,
etc., in sufficient quantity to put upon the market. These
different enterprises carry out the idea of Morris, that,
when the individual worker takes pleasure in his work,
beauty will result. They are attempts to reconstruct the
workshop in such a way that the workman may really
"live" and that the product may give pleasure to the
worker as well as to the buyer.

To realize more fully the ideals of the Arts and
Crafts we must go to the schools and see what change
has taken place there. What is the meaning of manual
arts which has taken such a hold in the last few years?

222 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Why has art teaching changed from painting of still life
and impossible landscapes, " gardening," one prominent
educator called it, to wood carving, block printing, metal
work, and designing? The doctrine of work as an edu-
cational factor is spreading. The child is to be trained
to use his hand and his brain together, to take pleasure
in his work, and to appreciate the fact that beauty may
exist in the simplest things, if only he has eyes to see it.

The Industrial Era of which Carlyle wrote is surely
with us, and man has awakened to the fact that in in-
dustry is the hope of the future. He is also fast awak-
ening to the necessity "to civilize out of its utter savagery
the world of industry."

From the purely commercial standpoint the Arts and
Crafts shops and communities have little strength.
Compared with the great factory industries they are
nothing, but the influence of their ideals is far spread.
Possibly it is not as Ruskin and Morris hoped it would
be, a means of solving the industrial problems of the
age; but the same general movement which insists on
better art in our homes is awakening the public to the
need of civic beauty, and is perhaps caused by the same
spirit which is arousing the industrial magnate to the
need of more humane factories and factory surroundings.

The demand for greater beauty in every-day things
has influenced not only the hand-made, but also the
machine products. Furniture, rugs, textiles, ornaments
of various kinds have felt the move toward simplicity.
True, the result obtained by the machine product is often
but a poor imitation of the hand-made, but often it is
excellent in itself. Where absolute perfection of detail

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT 223

is required the machine is marvelous, but where individ-
uality is desired it is helpless. The machine-made must,
however, fill the needs of the multitudes, but any addition
of art to it must be encouraged.

Training in the school will develop a love of the
beautiful in the child, and in time possibly we shall reach
the state when a few good things will be more highly
prized than many cheap things. The tendency of the
age is toward buying the many things which show ex-
penditure of money, but, as has been seen, there is a
considerable force in society working against this
tendency through a quiet appreciation of higher values.

Whether the result is shown in products of handi-
craft or in effort for greater civic beauty, the greatest
accomplishment of the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and
Crafts movements, and the outgrowth from these, has
been the sending of man to Nature. By opening men's
eyes to the beauty of natural things they have been made
to realize the hideousness of artificiality. Their lives have
been enriched by the spirit of outdoors, and that spirit
is leading to beauty in many lines.

REFERENCES

Vallance, Aymer. William Morris. His Art, His Writ-
ings, and His Public Life.

Triggs, Oscar Lovell. Chapters in the History of the
Arts and Crafts Movement.

Morris, William. Hopes and Fears for Art.

Ruskin, John. Pre-Raphaelitism.

APPENDIX A
LABORATORY TESTS FOR TEXTILE FIBERS

OF the many tests which may be used to distinguish
one fiber from another, only enough will be given
here to serve the purpose of those who wish to analyze,
in a simple manner, the fabrics commonly found on the
markets. No attempt is made to provide a laboratory
guide for a course in textiles.

Two kinds of tests used for identifying fibers are
the microscopic and the chemical. Some tests are suit-
able for quantitative work, others only for qualitative
identification. In some instances, notably in the case of
linen and cotton in the bleached state, the chemical nature
of the two fibers is so nearly identical that the quantita-
tive tests are not very accurate.

In qualitative work, the high power microscope is the
unfailing test and is the simplest one to apply. Combined
with counting, it serves as a partial quantitative test
when threads of different fibers are woven together, but
not where two fibers are twisted together in one thread.
The method of examination is very simple, as it is not
necessary to prepare permanent slides. The untwisted
end of a thread is placed on the slide dry, or better with
a drop of water, and the cover glass put on. It is some-
times necessary to remove the sizing from a material by
boiling, with the addition of a little sodium carbonate,
and then washing, before a satisfactory microscopic

224

LABORATORY TESTS 225

analysis may be made. For a thorough analysis one must
be sure that each kind of thread in the material has been
examined. The microscopic characteristics of the fibers
have been given before and will not be repeated here.

Often a microscopic test may be made more satisfac-
tory by staining the fibers or by treating them on the
slide with a chemical which gives a characteristic test.

Staining with Iodine and Sulphuric Acid. Cotton
and linen, when steeped in a solution of iodine in potas-
sium iodide and then in sulphuric acid and glycerine, are
stained blue. The cellulose, by the action of the sulphuric
acid, is converted into amyloid, a starch-like substance
which is stained by the iodine. The glycerine prevents
the destruction of the fiber by the acid.

Three grams potassium iodide in 60 c.c. water, add
i gram iodine, dilute before using with 10 parts water.

Three parts concentrated sulphuric acid, I part water,
and 3 parts glycerol.

Fibers moistened first with the iodine solution, then
with sulphuric acid solution.1

Methyl violet in alcoholic solution stains linen and
cotton a deep blue and shows up the structure of the fiber
very well.

Fuchsine in alcoholic solution stains linen and cotton
pink. Unbleached linen retains the color. Bleached linen
and cotton do not retain it when washed in ammonia.

Schweitzer's Reagent. When cotton is treated with
an ammoniacal solution of copper oxide, the fiber swells
and gradually dissolves. The action is slow and a charac-
teristic structure is visible with the high power micro-

1 Matthews. Textile Fibers, p. 338.

226 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

scope. Apparently the cotton cell has an outer and an
inner cuticle, and in the swelling the outer one constricts
the fiber, giving it the appearance shown in the figure.
The inner cuticle is also shown. Linen swells in a some-
what different manner from cotton and dissolves rather
more slowly. A faint blue coloration is visible in both
linen and cotton. Silk swells and dissolves very rapidly

FIG. 45. — COTTON TREATED WITH SCHWEITZER'S REAGENT

in Schweitzer's reagent, as does artificial silk. Wool is
apparently not affected at all. «

Analysis of a Cotton and Wool Sample, (a) The
sample is boiled for ten minutes in a 5 per cent solution
of sodium or potassium hydroxide. The wool present is
entirely dissolved, the cotton remains unaltered.

(b) The sample is steeped in concentrated Schweit-
zer's reagent.1

Two grams of copper sulphate dissolved in 100 c.c.
of water. Precipitate copper oxide with a 10 per cent
solution of sodium hydroxide. Wash the precipitate

Proportions from Methods of Textile Chemistry, by Dannerth,

p. 5-

LABORATORY TESTS

thoroughly, dissolve in smallest amount of ammonia sul-
phuric acid for two or three minutes; the cotton is then
washed out, the wool remains.

These tests may be made quantitative by drying the
sample at 100° C. and weighing before treating, and by
neutralizing the alkali with acid or the acid with
ammonia after treatment, washing, drying, and weighing
the residue.

Analysis of a Silk and Wool Sample. The sample
is steeped for two minutes in a concentrated solution of
hydrochloric acid. The silk is immediately dissolved,
while the wool is hardly affected. If the sample is dried
and weighed before and after treatment, the test will be
quantitative. Loewe's reagent, given below, also serves
to distinguish wool and silk. The silk is dissolved.

Analysis of a Silk and Cotton Sample. The sample
is treated with a basic solution of zinc chloride, zinc oxide
— very concentrated. The silk is almost immediately dis-
solved ; the cotton dissolves more slowly, first becoming
gelatinized.

The sample is treated with Loewe's reagent, an
alkaline copper-glycerol solution. Silk dissolves readily,
cotton is not affected.

Artificial and Natural Silk. Artificial silk is un-
affected by Loewe's1 reagent, even when boiled.

Artificial silk stains blue with iodine and sulphuric
acid, dissolves readily in Schweitzer's reagent, and gives
other tests similar to cotton.

1 Loewe's Reagent. Ten grams of copper sulphate, dissolved in
100 c.c. of water. Five c.c. of glycerol added, then sodium hydrox-
ide solution, until the precipitate is just dissolved.

228 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Analysis of a Cotton and Linen Sample. The

sample is steeped for two minutes in concentrated sul-
phuric acid. The cotton is converted into a jelly-like
mass which may be washed out, the linen just begins to
dissolve. The linen may be washed, then steeped in
dilute ammonia and weighed to give a rough quantitative
test. When the linen is bleached it dissolves quite readily
in sulphuric acid, so that the reaction must be stopped at
the right moment.

Jute and hemp fibers contain ligno-cellulose with
iodine, and in sulphuric acid jute turns dark yellow or
brown and hemp becomes yellow or greenish in color.
Combined with the microscopic tests, the staining tests
are more reliable.

For further tests see

Dannerth. Methods of Textile Chemistry.

Matthews. Textile Fibres.

Matthews. Laboratory Manual of Dyeing and Tex-
tile Chemistry.

APPENDIX B
BIBLIOGRAPHY1

THE books here listed are those which have been
used by the author for reference.

Abbott, Edith. Woman in Industry. New York: D.
Appleton & Co. 1910.

Baines, E. History of Cotton Manufacture in Great
Britain. London : H. Fisher, R. Fisher, and P. Jack-
son. 1835.

Barker, A. F. Textiles. London : Constable & Co. 1910.

Batchelder, Ernest A. Principles of Design. Chicago:
The Inland Printer Co. 1906.

Batchelder, S. Cotton Manufacture. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co. 1863.

Beaumont, Roberts. Woolen and Worsted Cloth Manu-
facture. London : G. Bell & Sons. 1899.

Bowman, Fred H. Structure of the Cotton Fibre. Lon-
don: The Macmillan Co. 1908.

Bowman, Fred H. Structure of the Wool Fibre. Lon-
don: The Macmillan Co. 1908.

Brooks, C. P. Cotton. New York: Spon & Chamber-
lain. 1898.

British Manufacturing Industries. Vols. 5 and 6, edited
by G. P. Bevan. London: E. Stanford. 1876-1877.

1 Certain of these books are out of print, but since they may
be obtained in public or college libraries they have been included
in this list.

229

230 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Bureau of Ethnology. Smithsonian Institute, Report
1881-1882. Washington.

Burnley, James. The History of Wool and Wool Comb-
ing. London : S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington
1889.

Burnley, James. The Story of British Trade and Indus-
try. London : Newnes. 1904.

Chapman, S. J. The Cotton Industry and Trade. Lon-
don : Methuen & Co. 1905.

Clapham, J. H. The Woolen and Worsted Industries.
London : Methuen & Co. 1907.

Cole, G. S. Encyclopedia of Dry Goods. New York:
Root. Newspaper Association. 1900.

Corticelli Silk Pamphlet. Nonotuck Silk Co., Florence,
Massachusetts.

Cotton Plant (The). Bulletin 33, Department of Agri-
culture, Office of Experiment Station. 1896.

Cultivation of Ramie. United States Department of
Agriculture. Office of Fiber Investigation, Report
No. 7.

Dana, W. B. Cotton from Seed to Loom. New York:
W. B. Dana & Co. 1878.

Dannerth, Fred. The Methods of Textile Chemistry.
New York: J. Wiley & Sons. 1908.

Dodge, C. R. Catalog of Useful Fibres. LTnited States
Department of Agriculture, Office of Fiber Investi-
gation, Report 9, Reprint 1897.

Dooley, W. H. Textiles. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co.
1912.

Karle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. New
York : The Macmillan Co. 1900.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 23!

Flax Culture for Seed and Fibre. United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Office of Fiber Investigation,
Report 10.

Fraps, G. S. Principles of Dyeing. New York: The
Macmillan Co. 1903.

Guiffrey, Jules. Les Gobelins et Beauvais. Paris: H.
Laurens. 1907.

Hannan, W. I. Textile Fibres of Commerce. London:
C. Griffin & Co. 1902.

Harrington, Charles. Manual of Hygiene. Philadel-
phia and New York: Lea Bros. & Co. 1901.

Herzog, Alois. The Determination of Cotton and Linen.
1908. Translated by Ellen A. Beers. New York:
Teachers College, Columbia University. 1912.

Holmes, W. H. Textile Art in Prehistoric Archaeology.
Reprint from American Antiquarian, September,
1886.

Holmes, W. H. Textile Fabrics of Ancient Peru.
Bureau of Ethnology, Bulletin No. 7. 1889.

Hough, T., and Sedgwick, W. T. The Human Mechan-
ism. Boston : Ginn & Co. 1906.

Hummel, J. J. Dyeing of Textile Fabrics. London, New
York: Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1898.

Hurst, G. H. Dyeing and Printing of Silk. London:
G. Bell & Sons. 1892.

Knecht, E., Rawson, C., and Loewenthal, R. Manual of
Dyeing. London: C. Griffin & Co., Ltd. 1910.

Le Bosquet, Maurice. Personal Hygiene. Chicago:
American School of Home Economics. 1907.

MacLaren, W. S. B. Spinning Woolen and Worsted.
London, New York: Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1899.

232 HOUSEHOLD TEXTILES

Marsden, R. Cotton Weaving. London : G. Bell & Sons.
1895.

Mason, O. T. Origins of Inventions. London: W. Scott.
1901.

Mason, O. T. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture.
New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1899.

Matthews, J. M. Laboratory Manual of Dyeing and Tex-
tile Chemistry. New York : J. Wiley & Sons. 1909.

Matthews, J. M. Textile Fibres. New York : J. Wiley
& Sons. (2d edition, 1907.)

Morris, William. Hopes and Fears for Art. Long-
mans, Green & Co. London.

Muntz, Eugene. A Short History of Tapestry. New
York and London : Cassell & Co., Ltd. Translated
by Louisa J. Davis. 1885.

National Consumers' League. Reports. Also Annals of
American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Owen, T. A. The Dyeing and Cleaning of Textile
Fabrics. New York: J. Wiley £ Sons. 1909.

Posselt, E. A. Wool, Cotton, Silk, from Fibre to Finished
Fabric. Philadelphia: E. A. Posselt.

Priestman, Howard. Principles of Woolen Spinning.
London, New York : Longmans, Green & Co. 1908.

Rock, Rev. Daniel. Textile Fabrics. London : Chapman
& Hall. 1877.

Ross, Denman W. A Theory of Pure Design. Boston
and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1907.

Ruskin, John. Pre-Raphaelitism. New York : G. P. Put-
nam's Sons.

Silk Culture. Year-Book. Department of Agriculture.
1903.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 233

Thompson, Holland. From the Cotton Field to the

Cotton Mill. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1906.
Thorp, F. H. Outline of Industrial Chemistry. New

York: The Macmillan Co. 1903.
Triggs, Oscar Lovell. Chapters in the History of the

Arts and Crafts Movement. The Bohemian Guild of

the Industrial Art League. 1902.
United States Bureau of Labor. Report on Condition of

\Voman and Child Wage Earners in the United

States. 1910. 19 vols.
\rallance, Aymer. William Morris. London : G. Bell &

Sons. 1897.
Ward, J. Colour Harmony and Contrast. London:

Chapman & Hall. 1903.
Watson, Kate Heintz. Textiles and Clothing. Chicago:

American School of Home Economics. 1907.
Wilkinson, F. Story of the Cotton Plant. New York

and London : D. Appleton & Co. 1909.
Wright, Carroll D. The Industrial Evolution of the

United States. Meadville, Pennsylvania, New York :

Flood & Vincent. 1895.

INDEX

Aboriginal baskets, mats, etc., 7

Absorbent cotton, 53

Absorption of dyes, 124, 125

Acid dyes, 133, 134

Adulteration and character of
fiber, 147 ; of cotton, 62, 147 ;
of linen, 158, 160; methods of,
160; of silks, 155, 156; sum-
mary, 160; tests for, 161 ; of
woolens, 85, 150

After-treatment, dyeing, 133

Alpaca, 65, 72, 86, 154

America, cotton in, 47

America, early factory condi-
tions in, 193

American woman and hygienic
clothing, 163

American Bar Association and
uniform laws, 201

Ammoniacal copper oxide, 225

Aniline dyes, see dyes

Ancient writings, 13

Angora, 65, 86

Angora goat fibers, 73

Animal fibers, 39 ; nature of, 40 ;
structure of, 40

Architecture and textile art, 6

Argentina, sheep in, 67

Arkwright, Richard, 32

Arras tapestry, 16

Artificial dyes, 130; fibers, 39;
silk, see silk

Artistic choice, need of, 145 ; use
of aniline dyes, 137

Arts and Crafts in America, 216 ;
Boston Society of, 218; and
Carlyle, 209 ; as a commercial
enterprise, 222 ; in England,
216; and the machine product,
222; meaning of, 215; move-
ment, 20, 214, 223 ; movement,
scope of, 216: and the public.
216; and Ruskin, 210; and
the school, 221 ; Societies, 218

Assistants to dyeing, 133
Associated arts, 6
Athenian fabrics, 14
Australia, sheep production, 67

Balance in design, 173

Basic dyes, 134

Basketry, 6, 12

Baskets, Hawaiian, 9 ; mats,
etc., aboriginal, 7 ; of Pima
Indians, 7 ; Samoan, 9

Bast fibers, 40

Batten, 28, 29

Bave, 98

Beauty and machinery, 208 ; and
order, 175

Beauvais tapestry, 16

Beaver, 65

Berea College, 19, 219

Blanket, Indian, 8, 9

Bleach, hydrogen peroxide for
cotton, 127; hydrogen perox-
ide for silk and wool, 129;
sodium peroxide for wool, 129

Bleaching agents and linen, 1 1 1 ;
cotton, 126; object of, 123;
linen, 118, 127, 128; powder,
127; silk, 103, 129; wool, 71,
128

Block printing, 138, 141

Body requirements of dress, 164

Boiled-off silk, 102, 129

Bombyx Mori, silk, 92, 96

Boston Society of Arts and
Crafts, 218

Brin, 98

Buffalo Exposition, 218

Burial customs, 3

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 212

Buyer, responsibilities of, 199

Buyers, women as, 144

Buying, aids in, 162; cotton
cloth, 62 ; complexity of prob-
lem of, 144; difficulty of, 146;

234

INDEX

and hygiene, 145 ; need of
economical, 144; tendency of
times in, 223
Byssus of Pinna, 106

Calender, 61

Camel, 65, 72

Carbonization, 76

Carding, sec cotton, woolen,
worsted, silk

Carlyle and Arts and Crafts, 209

Carpet yarns, 83

Cartwright, Edmund, 33

Cellulose, 53, 123

Centennial Exhibition, 217

Chardon-net silk, 107

Child Bureau, Federal, 206

Child and the factory system,
190

Child Labor Committee, Na-
tional, 205

Child labor in early factories,
195 ; law, requirements of
humane, 206 ; results of, 195

Chinese, discovery of silk, 90 ;
silks, 100, 10 1 ; textile art, 17

Chlorinated wool, 124

Christmas shopping, 204

Church, textile art and the, 15

Civilization and primitive art, n

Cleaning silk, 102

Cloth, the effect of modern dis-
coveries on, 144; steps in
manufacture of, 46 ; perfec-
tion of modern, 37 ; Tapa, 9,
10

Clothing, cleanliness of, 168; re-
lation of food and, 170; func-
tion of outer, 168 ; hygienic,
summary, 169; improper, 163;
materials, design in, 184, 185 ;
modern requirements of, 164,
165 ; next skin, 165 ; purposes
of, 163; ready-made, 143;
requirements of, for warmth,
165 ; tropical, 167; woman and
hygienic, 163

Coal-tar dyes, 130

Cochineal, 131

Cocoons, silk, 97, 98

Coir, 44

Collodion, 107

Colonial home industries, 18;
industries, 194

Colonies, promotion of industry
in, 194

Colonists, attitude of toward
labor, 194

Color, i ; absorption of heat and,
169; proportion in combina-
tion, 182; design and, 175;
production of harmonies, 179;
intensity, 177; nerves and,
176; in Oriental rugs, 17; re-
flection of heat and, 169;
scale, 176; science of, 176;
shades, 178; small interval of,
179; tints, 178; tone, 177;
warmth and, 169; wheel, 177

Colors, advancing, 182 ; cold,
181 ; complementary, 179;
modification of adjacent, 181 ;
retiring, 182 ; warm, 181

Columbian Exposition, 217

Community and the labor prob-
lem, 191

Composition, units of, 172

Conditioning, 73

Conduction of heat, 166

Conductive power of fibers, 165

Construction, decoration of, 182

Consumer, woman as, 143

Consumers' League, see National
Consumers' League

Convection of heat, 166

Conventional forms, 183

Copper-glycerol solution, 227

Cotton, absorbent, 53 ; adultera-
tion, 62, 147 ; adulteration in
wool, 152; in America, 47;
bales, 55; bleaching, 123, 126,
127; burning tests for, 152;
buying, 62 ; carding, 57 ; causes
for varieties, 50 ; characteris-
tics, 147 ; chemical nature, 53,
54, 123; classification, 50:
cloth, finishing, 60, 61 ; cloth,
qualities of, 147; cloth, sizing
in, 147: color of. 52; condi-
tions for cultivation, 48, 49 ;

INDEX

cultivation, methods of, 50 ;
difficulties of hand processes,
48; distribution of, 48; draw-
ing, 57', dyestuffs and, 54, 61 ;
East Indian, 50 ; Egyptian,
47, 48, 50 ; English laws limit-
ing use of, 48 ; in Europe, 47 ;
fiber, composition of, 122 ;
fiber, physical structure of, 51,
52 ; fibers, ripening of, 49 ;
gin, 33 ; ginning, 54 ; Hindu
gin, 26 ; history, 47 ; hygro-
scopic moisture, 53, 167 ; imi-
tations, 150 ; in India, 47, 48 ;
industry, 51 ; intermediate, 57;
linen and, analysis, 158, 228;
linen and, fabrics, 158; proc-
esses in manufacture, 56 ; mer-
cerized, see mercerized cotton ;
in Persia, 47; pests, 51 ; pick-
ing, 54 ; plant, 49 ; printing,
6 1 ; process of mercerizing,
62; roving, 57; scutching, 57;
Sea Island, 50, 52 ; seed prod-
ucts, 55 ; shoddy and, 88 ; silk
and, analysis, 227 ; silk and,
fabrics, 156; sizing, 58, 59;
sliver, 57; slubbing, 57; spin-
ning, 57; spinning, Hindu, 24;
standard materials, 148 ; Up-
land, 50 ; varieties, 49 ; wool
and, analysis of, 226 ; wool
and, mixture, 152; wool and
hair and, mixture of, 89 ; yarn,

Crafts, see Arts and Crafts
Crash, linen, 160
Crompton, Samuel, 33
Cylinder printing, 139

Deerfield industries, 219

Dedham pottery, 221

Design, balance in, 173; color
and, 175; in clothing mate-
rials, 184, 185 ; in dress ac-
cessories, 1 86; Egyptian, 4;
in hanging, 187 ; harmony in,
173 : in house-furnishing ma-
terials, 186; Japanese, 188 ;
measure in, 172; method of

producing textile, 183; order
m, 173; in Oriental rugs, 17;
Peruvian, 5 ; primitive, 7 ;
principles of, 172; printed,
184; in rugs, 188 ; shape in,
173; simplicity in, 189; tone
in, 172; use of material and,
183 ; woven, 183

Designs, analysis of, 173

Direct cotton colors, 135

Direct printing, 140

Discharge printing, 140

Disease, silk worm, 99

Distaff, 21

Drawing in, 59

Drawing, see cotton, linen, silk,
wool

Dress, see clothing ; accessories,
design in, 186; body require-
ments of, 164; field of hygiene
of, 164; good taste in, 184;
living conditions and, 164;
personal equation in, 170

Dye, Tyrian, 13

Dyeing, after-treatment, 133 ;
assistants, 133; cotton, 61 ;
modern methods of, 122 ; oper-
ations preliminary to, 125 ;
theories, 132

Dyer, object of, 130

Dyestuffs, cotton and, 54 ; linen
and, 112; silk and, 96

Dyes, acid, 133, 134; absorp-
tion of, 124, 125 ; aniline, 130,
131, 132; artificial, 130; artis-
tic use of aniline, 137; basic,
134; classification of, 133;
coal-tar, 130; in Egypt, 130;
household, 132; mordant, 134,
135; natural, 130; oil paints
as, 137, 138; Oriental, 130;
precaution in using, 136;
printing vs., 139; substantive,
134; sulphur, 136; for tapes-
tries, 130; topping, 136; use
of, 136; vat, 135; vegetable,
present use of, 131 ; wool and,

East Indian cotton, 50

INDEX

237

Economy and fashion, 146

Ecru silk, 102, 104, 129

Egypt, cotton, in, 47, 48 ; flax in,
109 ; wool in, 65

Egyptian cotton, 50; design,
character of, 4; dyes, 130;
fabrics, 12; loom, 4, 27;
mummy cloths, 109; tombs, 3;
wall paintings, 13

Emigration and the factory sys-
tem, 196

England, conditions in hand in-
dustries in, 36

English attitude toward export-
ing machinery, 34 ; labor con-
ditions in 1 8th and igth
centuries, 192; protection of
home industries, 192; reaction
from machine-made art, 208

Extract, 87

Europe, cotton in, 47

European fabrics, 14

Evaporation and heat, 166

Fabrics, Athenian, 14; Euro-
pean, 14; Oriental, 13;
Roman, 14 ; see cotton, linen,
silk, wool, worsted
Factories, child labor in early,
195 ; living conditions around,
196

Factory, early conditions, 32,
193; inspection, 198; "factory-
made," "home-spun" to, 143;
owners, improvement by, 198
Factory system, the child and
the, 190; emigration and the,
196; rise of, 191 ; women and
the, 190 ; working men and
the, 190

Fans, Hawaiian, 9 ; Samoan, 9
Fashions "and economy, 146 ;

hygiene and, 165
Federal Child Bureau, 206
Felt, 88 ; process of making, 88
Felting, property of wool, 72
Fiber, character of and adulter-
ation, 147

Fibers, animal, 39 ; artificial, 39 ;
bast, 40 ; comparison of mi-

croscopic characteristics, 41 ;
comparison of physical struc-
ture, 40 ; conductive power of,
165 ; hygroscopic power of,
167; impurities in, 45; labora-
tory tests for, 224 ; microscopic
examination of, 224 ; mineral,
39 ; in modern industry, 38 ;
qualitative tests for, 224 ; re-
quirements of, 38 ; tendered,
124 ; used, 39 ; vegetable, 39

Fibroin, 102, 124

Filatures, silk, 99

Finishing, see cotton, linen, silk,
wool

Flax, 1 09 ; breaking, 115; cul-
ture, 112; drawing, 116; in
Egypt, 109; hackling, 116;
plant, 112; pulling, 113; ret-
ting, 113-115; rippling^ 1*13;
scutching, 116; spinning, 26,
117; "straw, use of " broken,
120 ; wheel, 23

Flemish tapestry, 16

Flocks, 87, 88

Food and clothing, relation of,
170

French tapestry, 16

Fuchsine stain, 225

Fur-bearing animals, 65

Furs, 1 68

Gill boxes, 81
Gobelin tapestry, 16
Gold thread, 13
Golden tissues, 14
Graves, Peruvian, 4
Greek weaving, 27
Grueby pottery, 221
Guilds, 15, no, 191

Hair, 65 ; cotton and wool, mix-
ture of, 89 ; and wool, 66, 72

Handicraft of Middle Ages, 209

Hangings, design in, 187

Hargreaves, James, 32

Harmonies, close, 180 ; produc-
tion of color, 179

Harmony in design, 173 ; tex-
ture and color, 181

238

IJXDEX

Harness, 30

Heald, 28

Hawaiian baskets and fans, 9

Heat, color and absorption of,
169; color and reflection of,
169; conduction, convection,
1 66; and evaporation, 166

Heddle, 29

Hemp reactions, 228 ; source,
use, 44

Heraldry, 15

Hindu cotton gin, 26 ; cotton
spinning, 24 ; loom, 28

Historic textiles, 13

Home Industries, Colonial, 18

"Home-spun" to "factory-made,"
i43

Homespuns, 18, 144

Household dyes, 132

Hue, 177

Hull House, 220

Hydrogen peroxide for bleach-
ing cotton, 127; for silk, 129;
for wool, 129

Hygiene and buying, 145 ; of
dress, field of, 164; and
fashion, 165

Hygienic clothing, summary, 169

Hygroscopic power of fibers,
wool, cotton, 167 ; moisture,
52 ; moisture in cotton, 53 ;
property of linen, in ; prop-
erties of silk, 94 ; property of
wool, 73

Implements, buried, 3

Impurities in fibers, 45

Incas, textile art of, 4

India, cotton in, 47, 48 ; mus-
lins, 1 8

Indian belt loom, 28; blanket,
8, 9 ; loom, 7, 27 ; rug, 8

Indigo, 131, 135

Individuality, machinery and,
208

Industrial Era, 222 ; Revolution,
31, 66

Industries, Colonial, 194 ; Deer-
field, 219; English protection
of home, 192; mountain, 219;

Ruskin and home, 211; vil-
lage, 216, 219

Industry, ancient, i ; attitude of
women in early, 195 ; birth
of textile, 2; complication of
modern, 38 ; conditions in
England in hand, 36 ; distri-
bution of wool, 67 ; fibers in
modern, 38 ; foreign encour-
agement of cotton, 51 ; hand
labor in linen, 119; impor-
tance of cotton, 51 ; importance
of linen, no; importance of
silk, 93 ; modern, 34 ; old and
new systems of, 191

Inspection, see factory inspection

Inventions, textile, 31

Inventor, woman as, 2

Iodine and sulphuric acid stain,
225

Irish linen, no

Jacquard loom, 104, 184

Japanese designs, 188; printing,
141 ; textile art, 17

Jute, characteristics, 43 ; reac-
tions, 228 ; source, 43 ; use, 43

Kay, John, 32
Kapok, 44
Kemps, 73

Labor, attitude of Colonists
toward, 194; conditions, Eng-
lish, in 1 8th and igth cen-
turies, 192; see child labor;
see woman's labor

Labor problem, community and
the, 191 ; nature of the, 191 ;
school and the, 191 ; vastness
of, 190

Labor reform, future needs in,
207

Laboratory test for fibers, 224

Lake, 132

Law, need of textile, 146; of
1802, 193; textile, 162

Laws, American Bar Association
and uniform, 201 ; English,
limiting use of cotton, 48

INDEX

239

Legislation, early in United
States, 197; forces influencing,
198; in last fifteen years, 201 ;
increase in, 197; limiting hours
for women, 205; prior to 1860,
197

Limitation of ornamentation, 182

Line, 116

Linen, 109; acid and alkali re-
actions, 123; action of bleach-
ing agents, 1 1 1 ; adulteration,
158; adulteration with sizing,
160; bleaching, 118, 127, 128;
brown finishing, 118; composi-
tion of, 123; cotton and, anal-
ysis, 228 ; cotton and, to
distinguish, 158; cotton and,
fabrics, 158; crash, 160; dyed
in Tyre, no; and dyestuffs,
112; fabrics, 119, 159; fiber,
chemical characteristics, no-;
fiber, microscopic characteris-
tics of, in ; fiber, physical char-
acteristics, no; guilds, no;
history of, 109; hygroscopic
property of, in; importance
of, industry, no; hand labor
in, industry, 119; Irish, no;
Moorish, no; purple and fine,
no; sizing, 118; in SpairV,
no; superiority of, 158; tex-
ture of, 159; value of, 119,
121 ; weaving, 117

Linum usitatissimum, 109

Living conditions around fac-
tories, 196; and dress, 164;
investigation of, 205

Llama, 65, 72

Loewe's reagent, 227

Logwood, 131

Loom, Egyptian, 4, 27 ; Hindu,
28 ; Indian, 7, 27 ; Indian belt,
28; Jacquard, 104, 184; Peru-
vian, 4 ; power, 33

Luddite revolt against machin-
ery, 34

Machine-made art, English re-
action from, 208

Machine-made, importance of

the, 20
Machine product, Arts and

Crafts influence on, 222
Machinery and beauty, 208 ;

honesty of material and, 209 ;

individuality and, 208
Machines and working men, 33,

Madder bleach, 127
Manufacture, processes in, 45
Materials, factors in choice of,

172

Measure in design, 172
Mercer, John, 62
Mercerized cotton, 62 ; imita-
tion of, 63, 148; materials, 150
Mercerized wool, 70
Mercerizing cotton, chemical

process of, 62
Merino sheep, 67
Merton Abbey, 213
Methyl violet stain, 225
Microscopic examination of

fibers, 224
Mineral fibers, 39
Minimum wage investigation,

205

Mohair, 86, 154
Moire effect on silk, 105
Moorish linen, no
Mordant, 132, 133; dyes, 134,

135
Morris, William, an inspiration,

214; & Co., Decorative Artists,

213; and Red House, 212;

scope of, work, 214; spirit of,

work, 214; work, 212
Mound builders, 6
Mountain industries, 219
Mule, spinning, 80, 83
Mummy cloths, Egyptian, 109
Mungo, 87
Muslins, India, 18

National Child Labor Commit-
tee, 205

National Consumers' League, ex-
pansion of, 200; founded, 199;

240

INDEX

label, meaning of, 201 ; label,
where found, 202 ; method of
procedure, 200 ; purpose of, 199 ;
undertakings of, 200; White
List, requirements of, 203

Natural dyes, 130

Nature as color teacher, 182

Nerves and color, 176

Neutrality, 177

Newcomb College, 221

Novelty, 155

Oil paints as dyes, 137, 138

Order and beauty, 175 ; in de-
sign, 173

Organzine, 101

Oriental dyes, 130; fabrics, 13;
rugs, 1 7 ; rugs, design and
color in, 17

Ornamentation, limitation of, 182

Pasteur, Louis, 99

Persia and aniline dyes, 132;
cotton in, 47

Perspiration, care of, 166

Peruvian designs, 5 ; graves, 4 ;
looms, 4; textiles, 4, 12

Phoenician commerce and tex-
tiles, 14

Pictorial decoration, 6

Pima Indian baskets, 7

Pina cloth, 44

Pineapple cloth, 44

Pinna, byssus of, 106

Prehistoric textiles, 2

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 211

Primitive art, effect of civiliza-
tion on, 1 1 ; designs, 7 ; peo-
ples, textile art of, 7 ; shapes, 7

Printing, 138; block, 138, 141;
cotton, 6 1 ; cylinder, 139; de-
fects in, 140; developing color
in, 140; early, 138; design,
184; direct, 140; discharge,
140 ; vs. dyeing, 139 ; Japanese,
141; machinery, 139; methods
of, 139; precautions in, 140;
resist, 140

Potash from wool, 76

Pottery, 6; Dedham, 221;

Grueby, 221 ; imprints, 6, 12 ;

Rookwood, 221 ; Teco, 221
Public health reforms, 206

Rabbit, 65

Ramie, 42 ; attempts to grow in
the United States, 43 ; charac-
teristics, 43 ; source, 43

Raw silk, 100

Ready-made clothing, 143

Reed, 29

Reeling silk, 99, 100; yarn, 25

Reels, 25

Resist printing, 140

Retting, chemical, 115 ; dew, 113 ;
running water, 115; stagnant
water, 114

Ring spinning, 57

Roman fabrics, 14

Rookwood pottery, 221

Rossetti, 212

Roycrofters, 220

Rugs, design in, 188; Indian, 8;
Oriental, color and design, 17

Ruskin and Arts and Crafts, 210 ;
revival of home industries
and, 211

St. Louis Exposition, 218

Samoan baskets and fans, 9

School, Arts and Crafts and the,
221 ; labor problem and, 191

Schweitzer's reagent, 225, 226,
227

Scroop, 94, 130

Scutching flax, 116

Sea Island cotton, 50, 52

Seed hairs, 40

.Sericine, 102, 124

Sericulture, 90, 91, 92

Shades, color, 178

Shape, in design, 173

Shed, 28

Sheep in Argentina, 67 ; classi-
fication, 66 ; domestic, 65 ; in-
digenous to, 66 ; merino, 67 ;
production in Australia, 67 ;
wild, 67

INDEX

24I

Shoddy, 86 ; and cotton, 88 ; de-
tection of, 151; industry, 86;
forms in cloth, 151 ; micro-
scopic character of, 88 ; proc-
ess of making, 86 ; value of, 87

Shopping, Christmas, 204

Shops, women in retail, 196

Shuttle, flying, 32

Silk, 90; action of acids, 124;
action of alkalies, 124; adul-
teration, 155; artificial, 107,
157; artificial and Schweitzer's
reagent, 227; baling, 100;
bleaching, 103, 129; boiling,
103; boiled-off, 129; Bombyx
Mori, 92, 96 ; burning test, 156 ;
carding, 106; Chardonnet, 107;
chemical nature of, 95 ; Chi-
nese, 100, 101 ; Chinese dis-
covery of, 90; cleaning, 102;
cocoons, 97, 98; composition
of, 123; cost of, 156; cotton
and, analysis, 227 ; cotton and,
fabrics, 156; culture, 96; and
dyestuffs, 96; ecru, 102, 104,
129; fabrics, 155, 157; fila-
tures, 99; finishing, 105; his-
tory of, 90 ; hydrogen perox-
ide bleach, 129; hygroscopic
properties of, 94 ; industry, im-
portance of, 93; loading, 156;
processes in, manufacture, 101 ;
microscopic character, 94;
modern adulteration of, 156;
moire effect on, 105 ; origin
of, 90 ; physical structure, 93 ;
raw, 100; reeling, 99, 100;
softening, 104; spinning, 101 ;s
souple, 102, 104, 129; strip-
ping, 102; substitutes, 106;

.throwing, 101 ; underwear,
value of, 1 68; ungumming,
102; vegetable, 44; wearing
quality of, 108; weaving, 104;
weighting, 124; wild, 92, 96;
wool and, analysis, 227 ; worm,
97 ; worm, care of, 98 ; worm,
eggs, 96 ; worm, moth, 98 ;
worm, spinning, 98

Simplicity in design, 189

Singles, 102

Sizing, cotton yarns, 58 ; dots on

cotton cloth, 147, 148; linen,

118; mixtures for cotton, 59;

silk, 105

Skin, clothing next, 165
Slater, Samuel, 34
Societies, Arts and Crafts, see

Arts and Crafts
Sodium peroxide bleach for

wool, 129

Solar spectrum, 177
Souple silk, 102, 104, 129
Souring, 127

South Sea Island textiles, 9
Spain, linen in, no
Spindles, 21
Spinning, see cotton, flax, wool,

worsted, silk
Spinning, definition of, 21 ;

frame, 32 ; hand, 24, 26 ;

Hindu cotton, 24 ; implements,

21 ; jenny, 32; machine, 32,

34; mule, 33, 58; origin of,

21 ; process of, 21; ring, 57;

wheel, 22, 24

Spun or waste silk, 105, 106
Staining tests, 225
Steam engine, 33
Stickley United Crafts, 221
Substantive dyes, 134
Suint, 70
Sulphur bleach for wool, 128;

dyes, 136

Sweat shop, development of, 196
Swifts, 26
Swiss lake dwellings, 5

Tannic acid, 133, 137

Tapa cloth, 9 ; designs, i o

Tapestries, 15; Arras, 16; Beau-
vais, 16; dyes of, 130; Flem-
ish, 16; French, 16; Gobelin,
16; weaving, 15; of wool, 66

Teasling, 85

Teco pottery, 221

Tendered fibers, 124

Ten Hours Bill, 193

242

INDEX

Tests for adulteration, 161 ;
burning, for silk, 156; quali-
tative, for fibers, 224

Textile Art and Architecture,
6; Chinese, 17; the church
and, 15; development of
higher, n; of Incas, 4; Jap-
anese, 17; primitive peoples, 7

Textile fabrics on market, char-
acter of, 143

Textile, definition of, i ; indus-
try, birth of, 2 ; inventions,
31 ; law, 146, 162

Textiles, historic, 13; Peruvian,
4 ; Phoenician commerce and,
14; prehistoric, 2; producing
design on, 183; South Sea
Island, 9

Texture of linen, 159; and color
harmony, 181 ; of plain ma-
terials, 184

Thread, gold, 13

Throwing silk, 101

Tints, color, 178

Tissues, golden, 14

Tombs, Egyptian, 3

Tone, in color, 177 ; in design,
172

Tones, broken, 178

Topping dyes, 136

Tow, 116

Tram, 101

Tropical clothing, 167

Tyre, commerce in, 66 ; linen
dyed in, no

Tyrian dye, 13; purple, 130

Underwear, 168

United States, early legislation

in, 197

Units of composition, 172
Upland cotton, 50

Values, scale of, 177

Vat dyes, 135

Vegetable dyes, present use of,

131; fibers, 39; silk, 44
Velvets, 105
Vicuna, 65
Village industries, 216, 219

Wall paintings, Egyptian, 13

Warmth, clothing for, 165 ;
color and, 169; weave and,
1 66

Warping, 59

Waste or spun silk, 105

Watt, James, 33

Weave and warmth, 166

Weaves, basket, plain, rib, twill,
sateen, 60

Weaving, see cotton, linen, silk,
woolen, worsted

Weaving, 60 ; early methods,
27 ; evolution of, 27 ; Greek,
27; origin of, 27; tapestry, 15.;
value of hand, 37

Webb, Philip, 213

White List, Consumers' League,
203

Whitney, Eli, 33, 55

Wild silk, 92, 96

Women, attitude of, in early
industry, 195; as buyers, 144;
as consumers, 143 ; the factory
system and, 190; as inventors,
2 ; legislation limiting hours
for, 205; in retail shops, 196

Woman's entrance to mills, 194

Wool, 65 ; adulterations, 150,
152; baling, 74; bleaching, 71,
128; burning tests for, 152;
buying, 75 ; chemical proper-
ties, 69, 70, 71, 124; compo-
sition of, 69, 123; chlorinated,
124; cotton and, analysis of,
226 ; hair and, mixture of, 89 ;
cotton and, mixture, 152;
cultivation of, 69 ; demand
for, 89 ; drying, 76 ; dyes and,
71; in Egypt, 65; feltin»
property of, 72 ; fibers, hand
preparation of, 24 ;. fibers,
shrinking of, 85 ; hair and,
comparison of, 72 ; hair and,
distinction between, 66, 72 ;
history of, 65 ; hydrogen per-
oxide, bleach for, 129 ; hygro-
scopic property of, 73, 167; im-
portance of, 69 ; industry, dis-
tribution of, 67 ; luster of, 73 ;

INDEX

243

manufacture, 69 ; mercerized,
70 ; oiling, 77 ; origin of, 65 ;
physical structure of, 71 ;
potash from, 76 ; quality of,
68 ; scouring, 75 ; shearing,
74 ; silk and, analysis, 227 ;
sodium peroxide bleach, 129;
sorting, 75 ; spinning, 80 ;

« spinning, hand, 24 ; substitutes,
86 ; varieties of, 67 ; washing,
74 ; wheel, 22

Woolen. 77 ; adulteration of, 85,
152; characteristics of cloth,
150; fabrics, 155; fancy yarns,
79; underwear, need of, 168;
weaving, 83 ; yarns, process of
making, 79

Worsted, 65, 77 ; combing, 82 ;
cotton adulteration of, 152;
fabrics, 155; finishing, 84;
spinning, 83 ; weaving, 83 ;
yarn, carding, 80 ; yarn, proc-
ess of making, 80

Working man and factory sys-
tem, 190; and machines, 33,

Woven design, 183
Wyatt, John, 32

Yarns, carpet, 83 ; cotton, 57 ;
fancy woolen, 80 ; process of
making worsted, 80 ; reeling,
hand, 25 ; woolen, process of
making, 79

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